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THE 


LAST DAYS OF JESUS; 


OK, 


THE APPEARANCES OF OUR LORD DURING THE 
FORTY DAYS BETWEEN THE RESUR- 
RECTION AND ASCENSION. 


T. V. MOORE, D. D 


RICHMOND, VA. 



PHILADELPHIA : 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 

NO. 821 CHESTNUT STREET. 


0 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by 
JAMES DUNLAP, Treas., 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania. 

STEREOTYPED BY JESPER HARDING & SON, 

INQUIRER BUILDING, SOUTH THIRD STREET, PHILA. 



- uiir fV._ 3^ 


... • t V 


Washington 




The number forty occurs so often in Scripture, espe- 
cially in designating time, that we can hardly suppose 
this occurrence to be merely accidental. Especially is 
this true of the period of forty days. In the Patriarchal 
Dispensation, the flood was forty days in reaching its 
height, and forty days in abating. In the opening of the 
Legal Dispensation, Moses spent forty days in the Holy 
Mount before he came forth to deliver the law to the 
people. At this period the number appears with great 
frequency in designations of years. The life of Moses 
was included in three periods of forty years each ; the 
people wandered in the desert for forty years ; and the 
public life of Joshua began at the age of forty years. 
There would seem. to be a period of forty days, just pre- 
ceding the entrance into Canaan. We learn from Deut. 
i. 3, compared with ch. xxxi. 2, and xxxiv. 7, that Moses 
died the day he was one hundred and twenty years old, 
the first day of the eleventh month ) and that the people 
mourned for him thirty days. We learn from Joshua iv. 
19, that they passed through the Jordan, and entered 
Canaan on the tenth day of the first month. Hence there 
must have been precisely forty days interval between the 
end of the days of mourning for Moses, and the entrance 
into the land of Canaan under Joshua. When we reach 
the great representative of the prophetic era, Elijah, 
we find him led for forty days in the wilderness of Horeb. 

(3) 


4 


INTRODUCTION. 


Ezekiel was required to bear tbe iniquity of Israel forty 
days, and forty days were granted to guilty Nineveh for 
repentance. At the opening of the New Testament, we 
meet it again in the duration of the fast and temptation 
of Jesus in the wilderness. And as his public ministry 
opened with this period of forty days, so it closes with the 
great forty days that elapsed between the resurrection and 
ascension, the most wonderful of them all. 

It is perhaps impossible for us to understand all the 
reasons for the re-appearance of a particular number in 
this way. The mystical conjectures, and extravagant 
fancies of recent German writers show how easy it is to 
wander in the mist, and mistake a cloud for a crag, when 
we give loose to mere fancy in explaining facts. But 
there is at least one thing that is common to nearly all 
these periods of forty days. They were periods of prepa- 
ration. The first forty days of Noah introduced the first 
great display of God’s wrath that was made to the world. 
The second ushered in the second great chapter of human 
history, the dealings of God with the race of man since 
the flood. The forty days of Moses prepared him for 
setting up his Divine Institute. The forty days on the 
banks of Jordan, prepared Israel for their entrance into 
the promised land. The forty days of Elijah were a 
proper prelude to the solemn scenes of Horeb, and the 
close of his prophetic ministry. The forty days allowed 
to Nineveh prepared them to avert the wrath of God by 
repentance. The forty days of fasting and temptation in 
the wilderness prepared Jesus to enter on his public work 
as Mediator. Hence when we reach the last forty days 
in this long series, we are prepared to find it a period of 


INTRODUCTION*. 


5 


preparation for what was to follow. Such accordingly was 
the fact. It was an introduction to the opening of the 
New Dispensation, for it was spent by Jesus in “ speaking 
of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” It was 
to Jesus himself a season of preparation fbr the. glories of 
the ascension, and the return to heaven, when the ever- 
lasting doors were lifted up, to let the King of Glory in. 
And it was especially so to his disciples, for in the inter- 
views accorded to them during this interval, they were 
fully instructed on many points concerning which they 
had hitherto been but imperfectly informed. And these 
forty days were the preparation for the wonderful scenes 
of Pentecost. 

There are few ordinary readers of the Scriptures, who 
are aware of the riches of this portion of our Lord’s life 
on earth, or the number of important doctrines and prin- 
ciples that were brought to view during these interviews. 
There are few doctrines of the New Testament that do not 
come legitimately under the scope of this period of the 
life of Jesus. It furnishes to a remarkable degree an epi- 
tome of Christian doctrine and practice, even in the brief 
records we have of the facts. Doubtless there are many 
points that have not been recorded. The brevity of the 
record has left some things in obscurity, and created diffi- 
culties in the interpretation of this portion of our Lord’s 
life, that every careful reader has encountered. It is in 
the hope of drawing attention to this wonderful and 
rather neglected portion of the earthly life of Jesus, and 
of throwing some light on the various points included in 
it, that this volume has been prepared. In its prepara- 
tion these difficulties have not been avoided, and whilst 
1 * 


6 


INTRODUCTION. 


all formal criticism and learned discussion have been 
omitted, as far as possible, yet the results of the most 
careful and laborious investigation have been embodied 
in the presentation of the successive subjects. There is 
one feature that may require some apology, as it is a de- 
parture from the usual method of treatment. It is the 
discarding of all attempts to make a harmony of the four 
records of the Apostolic commission. The difficulty of 
doing this has been felt by every student, and the marvel 
is, that we should not conclude that there was a reason 
for having four forms of this commission, and that it was 
never intended that they were to be clipped and mosaicked 
into one. The advantage of taking the facts as they stand, 
rather than trying to make a harmony of them, as is 
usually done, will appear in the sequel. The gospel is a 
harp with four strings, and the attempts to twist them all 
into one string really destroy the harmony, instead of 
creating it. 

In the preparation of this work, use has been made 
freely of every available help, and especial obligation 
should be acknowledged to the writings of Grierson, 
Trench, Adams, J. A. Alexander, Stier, Bengel, and 
others, whose labours have been greatly useful in casting 
light on these wonderful interviews. Should Christians 
be led to study the life of Jesus with a new interest, to 
draw out the less obvious facts of his wonderful history, 
and to investigate the inspired writings with more care 
and satisfaction, the labour bestowed on the preparation 
of these pages, itself a delightful pleasure, will be richly 
rewarded. 


- , a C 


PAGE. 

3 


INTRODUCTION. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE DARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN. 

The Picture — The Smitten Flock — Keeping the Sabbath — The 
Darkness ever before the Dawn. 13 


CHAPTER II. 


THE DAWN. 

The rising from the dead not recorded — Why ? The resurrection 
not witnessed by any mortal eye — Advantage to us of this ar- 
rangement — The dawn of the great morning. ... 19 

CHAPTER III. 

THE ANGELIC ANNUNCIATION. 

The great morning — The early visit — The angelic annuncia- 
tion. I. The proof of the resurrection. The empty tomb — 

The dilemma — The evidence complete. II. The importance of 
the resurrection. It set God’s seal to the Messiahship of 
Christ — It declared him divine — It opened the dark valley — 

Its connection with justification, regeneration, holiness, and 
comfort to the sorrowing — The light cast on the believer’s grave 
from the place where the Lord lay 24 

CHAPTER IV. 


THE FIRST APPEARANCE — LOVE WEEPING AT THE SEPULCHRE. 


The first appearance, why to Mary Magdalene — The order of 
events — The unspoken name — The two words — “ Touch me 
not” — The brother’s message. I. The spiritual mourner. The 
cause of spiritual gloom — The cure — The test — Rabboni. 
II. The natural mourner. The bereaved — The disappointed — • 
The fearful — The cure of all earthly sorrow. 


37 


8 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER Y. 

TIIE SECOND APPEARANCE — OBEDIENCE REWARDED. 

PAGE. 

Order of events. Lessons from the second appearance. (1) The 
mission of woman. Why the women were selected to tell the 
first tidings of the resurrection — They do so still — Augustine, 
Alfred, Hall, Halyburton, Doddridge, Wesley, Randolph, the 
convicted infidel — a mother’s power. (2) The salutation of Jesus. 
Blessings met only in the path of obedience. (3) Jesus wor- 
shipped. Why Mary Magdalene was forbidden what was 
allowed to the other women — The Divinity of Christ. (4) The 
brotherly appellation. The new name — The elder brother. 

(5) The brotherly message. Why meet in Galilee — The great 
appointment — Be ye also ready. 51 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE THIRD APPEARANCE — THE PENITENT BACKSLIDER. 

The gradation — Why appear first to Peter ? I. The successive steps 
of the backslider. (1) .An unsubdued will. (2) Undue self- 
confidence. (3) Neglect of prayer. (4) Neglect of warnings. 

(5) Following Christ afar off. (6) Tampering with temptation — 

The avalanche. II. The sorroios of the backslider. The look in 
the palace and the bitter weeping — The backslider’s musings — 

The starless crown. III. The restoration of the baclcslider. The 
three steps — Penitence, Hope, Assurance — The two kinds of re- 
pentance. ... 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE FOURTH APPEARANCE — THE PERPLEXED DOUBTERS. 

The gradation. I. The circumstances. The sad disciples — The 
love of Jesus — The sin of unbelief — The key of the Old Testa- 
ment — The burning of heart — Christ made known in breaking 
of bread. IL The lessons to the doubter. (1) Honest doubts in 
regard to the Divine origin of Christianity — “ It speaks to my 
heart.” (2) Doubts concerning doctrines. (3) Doubts regarding 
personal experience. (4) Doubts in reference to the Provi- 
dential dealings of God. “ Abide with us.” ... 76 


CONTENTS. 


9 


CHAPTER VIII. 

THE FIFTH APPEARANCE — THE LORD’S DAY EVENING. 

PAGE. 

The circumstances of this meeting — The physical properties of 
Christ’s risen body. I. The inauguration of the Lord’s Lay. 

The Lord’s day is the Christian Sabbath — Its beautiful sig- 
nificance. II. The blessings connected with the Lord’s Lay by 
the words of Jesus. (1) Fears relieved — Why do we dread a 
spirit ? — w Peace.” (2) Faith confirmed — Evidences of the res- 
urrection — Transubstantiation. (3) Light cast on the objects 
of hope — The same body that dies rises — The physical proper- 
ties of the risen body — Recognition in heaven. (4) Errors cor- 
rected. (5) The Holy Ghost given. (6) Apostolic power. III. 
JThomas absent. Why ? — What he missed — Missing at the last. 90 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE SIXTH APPEARANCE — THE SCEPTICAL DISCIPLE. 

The second Lord’s day — The dark disciple — I. The causes of 
the scepticism, of Thomas. (1) The original structure of his 
nature — Living in the shadow. (2) A wrong standard of be- 
lief — The credulity of unbelief. (3) Absence from the meeting of 
the disciples — God honours his appointed means. II. The con- 
sequence of his unbelief. Wretchedness of soul — The sceptic 
wretched, whether right or wrong. III. The removal of his scep- 
ticism. (1) The awaking of his faith by a sight of Christ. (2) The 
confession of his faith — Did he blaspheme ? (3) The personal 

character of his faith. (4) The benediction of Jesus — Goethe. 106 

CHAPTER X. 

THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE — THE SHORE OF GALILEE. 

How the third meeting. I. The circumstances. The fishing 
party — The night of unsuccessful toil — The morning vision — 

The fire on the shore and the food. II. The meaning of this 
scene. The pic-nic interpretation — Connection with the first 
miraculous draught of fishes — The meaning of the first miracle 
— “ Toiling all right and taking nothing” — The inefficiency of 
the pulpit — The difference of the miracles and their meaning — 

The second miracle shadows the final glory of the Church — 

The repast on the shore, its meaning — Lessons to the Church 
now on the sea — Comfort to the individual Christian. . 122 


10 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER XL 

THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE — LOVEST THOU HE ? 

PAOE. 

Peter reinvested with the apostolic office — The fire of coals. I. 

The Questions. (1) The name by which Peter was addressed. 

(2) The two words for love. (3) The contrast with the other 
disciples. (4) The gradual relenting of Jesus to Peter. II. 

The charges. Feeding and governing the flock — No primacy 
of Peter here — The girding of old age. III. Lessons from this 
scene. (l)The essence of the Christian life is love to Christ. (2) 

The test of love is obedience — The German pastor and the pic- 
ture. (3) Love to Christ is made perfect through suffering — 

The girdings and carryings of the Christian — Not loving Christ 
— Maranatha 1.38 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE — WHAT IS THAT TO THEE ? 

The walk on the shore — Silent love — uncertainty of tradition — 

The breathing grave. I. The question. Peter’s possible mo- 
tives. (1) A momentary pang of repining — The feelings of the 
afflicted — A target for the Almighty. (2) Mere curiosity — 
Intimacy of Peter and John — Anxiety to pry into the future — 
Wisdom of the veil that hides it. II. The answer. (1) The 
events of life ordered by the will of God — Predestination a doc- 
trine full of comfort. (2) The Christian’s life on earth is a 
tarrying for the summons home — The aged and invalid — The 
Dairyman’s Daughter. (3) The cure of all anxiety for the future 
is the discharge of present duty — Follow Jesus. . . 153 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE EIGHTH APPEARANCE — THE FIVE HUNDRED WITNESSES. 

I. Place of this meeting. Probably the mount of transfiguration 
— Why in Galilee. II. Importance of this meeting. Thrice 
predicted — A meeting of the whole church then on earth — Pre- 
paration for coming conflicts by a revelation of Christ’s glory 
— Why some doubted. III. Comparative silence of scripture 
concerning it. Reason for this silence — The transfiguration, 
why so little alluded to — Meeting Jesus on earth — Meeting 
him hereafter in heaven 166 


CONTENTS. 


11 


CHAPTER XIV. 

THE NINTH APPEARANCE — JAMES THE LORD’S BROTHER. 

PAGE. 

The three Jameses — James the Just, the brother of our Lord — 

His character by Hegesippus — Apocryphal traditions — His 
childhood and Nazaritic dedication — Not a disciple of Jesus at 
first — His position in the church — The significance of this ap- 
pearance to him — The silence of scripture — General teachings. 176 

CHAPTER XV. 

THE TENTH APPEARANCE — THE APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MATTHEW. 

The place J erusalem and Olivet — The four forms of the commis- 
sion — Why ? — Their distinctness — Meaning of the commission 
— Not the original authority to preach and baptize. I. Au- 
thority of the commission. The mediatorial kingdom of Christ 
— All power. II. The commission. (1) To make disciples. 

(2) To baptize disciples — Subject of baptism — Baptismal for- 
mula — Trinity. (3) To teach disciples— Inspiration — The 
three offices of Christ. III. Encouragement. The presence 
of Christ — I am — “ All days” — Days of worship, of toil, of trial, 
and of death 187 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE TENTH APPEARANCE — APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MARK. 

The difference between Matthew and Mark, just such as we would 
expect — The Roman gospel. I. The commission. Its extent — 

Are infants excluded from baptism by its terms ? — The illogi- 
cal inference — Why infants are not named in the commission — 

The real warrant of the commission. II. The authenticating 
seals. The miracles of the soul. III. The consequences gf accept- 
ing or rejecting. The awful words — Eternity the only interpreter. 212 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE TENTH APPEARANCE — APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN LUKE. 

Differences between Luke and the other evangelists — The Greek 
gospel. L The Holy Scripture the only final and unerring 
rule of faith and practice. Popery and infidelity— Jesus en- 
dorsing the scripture. II. The central doctrine of revelation, 
an atoning and suffering Messiah. The law, prophets, and 
psalms — The cross of Christ the centre of all human history. 

III. A divine power needfxd to enable man to comprehend the 
gospel of Christ. “ Opening the understanding” — The new 


12 


CONTENTS. 


PAGK. 

light. IV. The salvation of the gospel for all, however remote 
their habitation, or great their guilt. “All nations” — “ Be- 
ginning at Jerusalem” — Bunyan’s Jerusalem Sinner. . 222 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE TENTH APPEARANCE — APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN ACTS. 

The gospel of the Holy Ghost. I. Waiting for the promise of 
the Father. Gorgeous dreams of the kingdom — Curiosity about 
the future — Almanac makers of prophecy — Waiting for the vis- 
ion — Creation groaning — How must we wait ? II. The promise 
of the Father. Meaning of baptism — Mode of baptism — The dis- 
pensation of the Spirit — Christ’s ascent the condition of the 
Spirit’s descent — Intercession of the Holy Ghost, how it differs 
from that of Christ. III. Effects of the fulfilment of the promise. 

All Christians witnesses for Christ — Passive witnessing — Mar- 
tyrs — Cecil and his mother, Addison — The unconscious witness. 236 
CHAPTER XIX. 

THE ASCENSION. 

Why the Ascension is so little alluded to in scripture. I. The 
fact of the Ascension. (1) The time. (2) The place. (3) The 
attendant circumstances. II. The reasons for the Ascension. 

(1 ) Tho Priesthood of Christ. (2) The entrance into glory after 
suffering. (3) To display his Divine nature. (4) Connection with 
the descent of the Holy Ghost. (5) His intercession. (6) Pre- 
paring a place for us. (7) Our forerunner and example — His 
Ascension the picture and pledge of ours. (8) Sitting at the 
right hand of God — The Pilgrim. • 255 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE PARTING PROMISE. 

The lingering benediction. I. The appearance of the Angels. 
Angelic agency — Its reality and blessedness — Its nature. II. 

The Angelic Message. (1) The rebuke — Gazing too long into 
heaven — “ Oh ! to be wi’ thee, Richie !” — Pining sinfully for 
heaven. (2) Tho comfort — “This same Jesus” — The un- 
changing Friend. (3) The warning — The second coming of 
Christ — The Old Testament Prophets — The New Testament 
Prophets — Why such obscurity around the time and manner of 
this coming — The great Epiphany — Conclusion — The fulness of 
instruction during the forty days — The coming Era — Signs of 
the times — The Pentecost of the future. .... 280 


F5€+ 


CHAPTER I. 

THE DARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN. 

The Picture — The Smitten Flock — Keeping the Sabbath — The Dark- 
ness ever before the Dawn. 

* When we in darkness walk, 

Nor feel the heavenly flame, 

Then is the time to trust our God, 

And rest upon his name. 

Soon shall our doubts and fears 
Subside, at his control, 

His loving-kindness shall break through 
The midnight of the soul.” 

“ And there was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, sitting over 
against the sepulohre.” — Matt, xxvii. 61. 

These words present to us a picture as sugges- 
tive as it is beautiful. As a mere picture, it is 
exquisitely lovely, so vivid is the outline and so 
impressive the grouping it presents. In the back- 
ground stands the Holy City, beginning to grow 
still with the quiet of the approaching Sabbath ; 
and the mountains that stand round about Jeru- 
salem, glowing in the light of the setting sun. 
As that light begins to fade away over the distant 
2 ( 13 ) 


14 THE DARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN. 

summits of the mountains of Moab, the last objects 
that it illumines are those in the foreground of 
the picture, — the two weeping Marys, as they sit 
with bleeding hearts, gazing on the closed and 
silent sepulchre of Jesus. As that dark and dreary 
night goes down over the battlements of the guilty 
City, the last forms that are visible to us, are 
those of these loving disciples, who are sitting in 
mute and motionless agony, looking through their 
tears on the grave of their crucified Master. It is 
often said that woman was “ last at the cross, and 
first at the sepulchre.” It should also be remem- 
bered that she was likewise last at the sepulchre ; 
that when Joseph, Nicodemus, and John had all 
returned to their homes, and when the infuriate 
rabble of the city might well be dreaded, even by 
men, that even then, as that awful night of the 
crucifixion came down upon the guilty city, the 
Marys were the last to leave the spot, where 
the Lord lay. Hence, as a picture of woman’s 
heroism, and woman’s fidelity, it is one of most 
exquisite and touching beauty. 

But it is as suggestive, as it is beautiful. The 
weeping Marys, gazing on the silent sepulchre, 
are but a striking type of the rest of the disciples 
on that mournful and memorable evening. The 
Shepherd had been smitten, and the flock was 
scattered. It is very difficult for us, with the light 
we have, to understand the feelings of the disciples 


THE DARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN. 15 

at that time, or appreciate their conduct. We see 
so clearly that Christ ought to have suffered these 
things, before entering into his glory, that we can 
hardly comprehend their bewildered and stagger- 
ing state of mind at that period. They evidently 
did not understand either that Christ must die, or 
that his death was to be followed by a resurrection. 
These things had been announced to them, it is 
true, but they doubtless regarded them as symbol- 
ical, and could not think that he who had raised 
others from the grave must himself enter it. 
Hence when he was arrested, mocked, scourged, 
and crucified ; when the heavens grew dark, and 
the earth quaked, and all nature gave token of 
some fearful utterance of wrath, they were be- 
wildered, and unable to see why Jesus should be 
the subject of such manifestations. They had 
painful misgivings that all was lost; that he in 
whom they trusted had for some unknown reason 
failed in the hour of trial, and been forsaken of 
God ; that all their fond dreams of the return of 
Israel’s ancient glory were now dashed, and they 
left lonely and orphaned, the victims of some 
strange delusion, or some fearful failure. They 
were realizing the first utterance of the prophet 
Isaiah, We did esteem him stricken, smitten of 
God and afflicted,” and had not yet reached the 
next, “ He was wounded for our transgressions, he 
was bruised for our iniquities,” and hence their 


16 THE DARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN. 

souls were unutterably dark. They saw only the 
descending night and the unopened grave, and 
felt themselves in the valley and shadow of death, 
without the comforting rod and the supporting 
staff of the Shepherd. 

Hence this Sabbath eve was the darkest that 
ever fell on the earth, since the closing of the 
gates of Eden. He who seemed to be the hope of 
Israel and the world, was cruelly murdered, and 
God appeared to have abandoned the church and 
the world to their fate. The dawn of the next 
morning brought no relief to their darkened 
souls. The stillness of the Sabbath must have 
had a sepulchral oppressiveness to their souls, for 
it could only remind them of the dead Jesus. 
Even to an ordinary mourner there is something 
grating in the bright sunlight and glad skies, so 
mournfully in contrast with the darkness of the 
sorrowing heart ; but to them with such a grief, 
having lost such a friend, under circumstances so 
unparalleled and appalling, the sweet light of the 
Sabbath must have seemed like a mockery of their 
gloom. 

It is not unworthy of note, that in spite of the 
eager desire of the Marys to return to the sep- 
ulchre, “ they rested the Sabbath day according to 
the commandment.” With many the Sabbath 
is peculiarly the day for visiting the resting-place 
of the dead, and the cemeteries of our cities and 


THE DARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN. 17 

villages are commonly thronged on that day by 
crowds of visitors, with many of whom it is to be 
feared affection for the dead is the least powerful 
motive for the excursion. It is often but part of 
that general disposition to take the time of the 
Sabbath for doing that which can be postponed 
during the week, and thus to save time which 
is money, by using time which is only holy. 
With many the Sabbath is the day for taking 
medicine, for visiting sick friends, for making up 
lost sleep, and for performing miscellaneous duties, 
that would cost more time than they are willing 
to give during the working days of the week. It 
is in touching rebuke of this effort to rob God of 
his time to do our own work, that we find the Marys 
resting on the Sabbath according to the command- 
ment. We have no desire to see a Jewish 
austerity infused into the Christian Sabbath, nor 
is there the least danger of such an extreme. 
But we have a desire to see it observed as a day of 
holy rest, and neither as a day- which is saddled with 
the odds and ends of things for which men are 
unwilling to give the working time of the week, 
nor as a day in which release from the control and 
demands of labour gives a leisure that is used in 
education for hell, if it is not used for education 
for heaven. Between the Sabbath as a holy day, 
and the Sabbath as a holiday, we have no hesita- 
tion in making a choice ; and were it observed 
2 * 


18 THE DARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN. 

more frequently as the Marys did it, 11 according 
to the commandment,” men would more frequently 
enjoy such visions as they had, when the darkness 
of the sorrowing night gave way to the dawn of 
the blessed morning. 

It will be seen that, in this time of deep gloom, 
the disciples were nearing the rise of a brighter 
light than had ever yet appeared on their path. 
Then, as ever since, God was bringing light out of 
darkness, joy out of sorrow, life out of death, 
pearls of the richest glory out of tears of the bit- 
terest sorrow, and making the very facts that 
caused the sadness to be the means of working 
out the good. This is the Divine plan, and is 
needed in a world of sin, and ought not therefore 
to be regarded with surprise when it comes upon 
us. We shall find, as the disciples did, that the 
cloud is big with blessing and not with wrath, and 
that the darkest hour is that before the dawn. 


THE DAWN. 


19 


CHAPTER II. 

THE DAWN. 

The rising from the dead not recorded. Why ? — The resurrection not 
witnessed by any mortal eye — The advantage to us of this arrange- 
ment — The dawn of the great morning. 

“ How calm and beautifnl the morn, 

That gilds the sacred tomb, 

Where once the Crucified was borne, 

And veiled in midnight gloom ! 

Oh, weep no more the Saviour slain, 

The Lord is risen — He lives again.” 

“ In the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first 
day of the week, * * * behold there was a great earthquake ; for the 
angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the 
stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like light- 
ning, and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him the 
keepers did shake and became as dead men.” — Matt, xxviii. 1 — 5. 

It is a remarkable fact, that the actual scene of 
the resurrection of our Lord, not only was not 
witnessed by any human eye, but is not recorded 
by any of the evangelists. This is a striking- 
fact, the significance of which is commonly over- 
looked. Indeed the fact itself has not been no- 
ticed, and yet it is a fact of no small interest. 
They record the closed grave, the watch, and the 
seal, on the evening of the sixth day. They then 
record the open and empty grave on the morning 


20 


THE DAWN. 


of the first day, but that mysterious and stupen- 
dous event by which the grave was emptied is not 
recorded. It is announced immediately by the 
angels as having taken place, and afterwards estab- 
lished by the most unanswerable evidence ; but its 
actual occurrence is not recorded by any of the 
sacred writers. The omission is a very remark- 
able one, considering the momentous importance 
of the occurrence itself. Had these writers been 
inventing a fiction, such an omission would have 
been incredible. This fact being the main fact of 
the story, it would have been narrated with details 
of time and attendant circumstances in the most 
careful manner, so that all cavil should be ex- 
cluded. But inasmuch as there was really no eye- 
witness to the fact itself, in its actual occurrence, 
they refrain from recording that occurrence, with 
a strict and scrupulous regard to historical accu- 
racy that is very striking ; and that is one of those 
minute marks of absolute verity that would never 
occur to an inventor, but which, when brought to 
our notice, illustrates the conscientious and careful 
truthfulness of the writers in the most convincing 
manner. 

The nearest approach to such a record is in the 
words of Matthew above, but this only records 
the opening of the grave by the angel, an event of 
which there were eye-witnesses in the keepers, but 
not the actual rising from the dead and coming 


THE DAWN. 


21 


forth from the grave, of which there was no eye- 
witness. It is obvious from the record, that the 
resurrection must have taken place about the 
dawning of the day, and was perhaps coincident 
with the rolling away of the stone by the angel ; 
but this fact is matter of inference and not of 
record. Hence, to attempt a description of this 
sublime and stupendous scene, would be to attempt 
what the evangelists have not attempted, and to 
supplement the records of inspiration. A veil of 
deep mystery and awe is hung over the actual 
event, which it were presumption in us to en- 
deavour to remove. 

But the question may naturally be asked, Why 
was it thus left ? Why were the death and the 
ascension made to occur in the presence of wit- 
nesses, whilst the resurrection, an event that is 
declared to lie at the foundation of the whole sys- 
tem of Christianity, was witnessed by none? 
Why did not Christ rise in the presence of a 
crowd, as he had died, and thus compel their belief 
in his divine mission, and their recognition of his 
claims as Messiah? 

It might be sufficient to reply, that it is no part of 
the scheme of redemption to compel belief, and that 
we have no right to either expect or demand more 
than sufficient evidence to warrant belief. And 
there were reasons of fitness that doubtless re- 
quired that this august and awful scene should 


22 


THE DAWN. 


take place, not in the presence of a clamorous 
crowd, but in the sublime solitude of that silent 
dawn, when the keepers were as dead men. But 
there is another reason usually overlooked, that 
has no small force. Whether it was so arranged 
for this special purpose, we will not affirm. Bat 
it is obvious that, by this arrangement, this funda- 
mental fact of the Christian system, in which all 
have exactly the same interest, comes to all with 
exactly the same proof. To the first disciples, 
with the doubtful exception of Mary Magdalene, 
it was brought as it is to us, a matter of testimony 
supported by subsequent proof. The women were 
called to believe it on the testimony of the angels, 
the disciples on the testimony of the women, and 
the world on the testimony of the disciples. The 
women had subsequent corroboration of the testi- 
mony of the angels, the disciples of theirs, and we 
of the disciples ; but in each case, the first demand 
to believe is on the same ground, the testimony of 
competent witnesses, and not ocular demonstra- 
tion. The subsequent proofs in the case of the 
women and disciples include this ocular demon- 
stration ; but they were required first to believe 
on the testimony of competent and credible wit- 
nesses, just as we are, and not on the evidence -of 
their own senses. Hence it is apparent that in 
this fundamental fact, all are placed on the same 
level; and the only question that can be raised is 


THE DAWN. 


23 


whether we possess corroborating proof of the 
testimony handed down to ns, that ought to satisfy 
us, and that by the ordinary laws of human be- 
lief warrant and require an assent. This will be 
discussed when we reach the testimony. 

W e have here then the dawn of the great morn- 
ing, the rising of the Sun of righteousness with 
healing in his wings. And like all the great facts 
that lie at the foundation of our hopes, it is so 
arranged as to be matter of faith corroborated by 
reason, supported by sufficient and unanswerable 
proof; but after all presented to us as a thing to 
be believed because it is true, and not because we 
can prove it to be true. The measure of our 
ability to establish the truth is not the measure of 
the truth itself, and hence faith is demanded of 
men as a duty, and not requested as a favour, and 
unbelief is a damning sin. When the day has 
dawned, the light is its own evidence to the open 
eye. 


24 


THE ANGELIC ANNUNCIATION. 


CHAPTER III. 

THE ANGELIC ANNUNCIATION. 

The great morning — The early visit — The angelic annunciation.— I. 
Proof of the resurrection. The empty tomb : — The dilemma: — The 
evidence complete. II. The importance of the resurrection. It set 
God’s seal to the Messiahship of Christ : — It declared him to be 
Divine : — It opened the dark valley — Its connection with justifica- 
tion, regeneration, holiness, and comfort to the sorrowing — The 
light cast on the believer’s grave from the place where the Lord lay. 

“ Hark ! the herald angels say, 

Christ the Lord is risen to-day, 

Raise your joys and triumphs high, 

Let the glorious tidings fly.” 

“And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye : 
for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here ; 
for he is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. 
And go quickly, and tell his disciples, that he is risen from the dead, 
and behold he goeth before you into Galilee ; there shall ye see him ; 
lo I have told you.” — Matt, xxviii. 5 — 7. 

There is a slight apparent discrepancy in the 
different accounts given of the visit of the women 
to the sepulchre. John xx. 1, says that Mary 
Magdalene came “early, while it was yet dark,” 
or more literally, “ there being yet darkness,” i. e. 
before all the darkness had disappeared. Mark xvi. 
2, states that “very early in the morning — they 
came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.” 


THE ANGELIC ANNUNCIATION. 


25 


The discrepancy here is only apparent. The facts 
of the case doubtless were that although it had 
only begun to dawn when they left their homes in 
the city, yet having some distance to walk before 
reaching the sepulchre, and the twilight in Pales- 
tine being then but short, they did not reach the 
grave until sunrise. The one set of statements 
refers to the time of leaving home, the other to the 
time of arrival at the tomb, and they in no wise con- 
flict. That these unprotected women should have 
ventured forth at such an hour, not knowing the 
perils they might encounter, and not even know- 
ing who should roll away the great stone from the 
mouth of the sepulchre, was a signal illustration 
of the vehemence of their love to the Saviour. 
And in this instance, as is ever the case in the 
path of duty, the blessed instinct of love was 
wiser than the cold surmisings of logic, and the 
lions in the way that little faith always sees, were 
found to be chained or removed. They reached 
the grave unmolested, and found to their aston- 
ishment, the stone rolled away, and a being 
of unearthly splendour sitting upon it, awaiting 
their approach. The angel gave them the first 
annunciation of the fact that the Lord was risen, 
according to the promise. 

The angelic annunciation of the resurrection 
contains two statements, I., The Proof, II., The 
Importance of this event. 

3 


26 


THE ANGELIC ANNUNCIATION. 


I. The Proof of the Resurrection of Christ . — 11 1 
know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified. He 
is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come see 
the place where the Lord lay.” 

The angel states the question to the women pre- 
cisely as it is presented to the world at large. He 
announces a fact, and then gives the only rational 
explanation that can be given of this fact. The 
fact is, that the sepulchre was empty : the expla- 
nation is, that Christ arose from the dead. 

The undoubted fact is, that the sepulchre was 
empty on the third day. “ Come see the place 
where the Lord lay.” How was it emptied? 
That the dead body was placed there on Friday 
evening, and the grave guarded by a watch of 
Roman soldiers, was undeniable, and equally so, 
that the body was now gone. If it had not been, 
the body could have been produced, and Christi- 
anity been crushed in its bud. 

How then was it removed ? But two explana- 
tions were ever offered worthy of consideration. 
The one is that of the Pharisees, that the disciples 
stole it away while the guard slept. This is in- 
credible and absurd. The penalty for sleeping on 
watch, to a Roman soldier, was death; and when 
the watch was not protracted, but only for two 
nights, it would have been unlikely that even one 
guard would sleep, but incredible that the whole 
band should sleep, and that so soundly, that the 


THE ANGELIC ANNUNCIATION. 


27 


removal of the stone and carrying away of the 
body did not awake them. Moreover, if asleep, 
they could not know what became of the body, 
and could not say that it was not risen. 

But still more incredible is it, that the scattered 
and affrighted disciples should make so daring and 
dangerous an attempt. It was bright moonlight, 
when such an effort would be peculiarly hazard- 
ous, even by the most courageous men, and incon- 
ceivable by men so deeply discouraged and de- 
feated. They did not even believe that he was to 
rise from the dead, much less feel that they must 
secure that resurrection. They had no motive for 
doing so, for if Christ did not rise, he had de- 
ceived them most cruelly, in the most momentous 
interest of life, had decoyed them from their 
trades, robbed them of their religion, and left 
them to the scorn and hate of their own nation. 
There was no motive to induce them to attempt 
to fulfil a prediction that they did not believe, 
and secure an event which they did not expect. 
Hence, this explanation is absurd and incredible 
in the last degree. 

The only other is that presented by the angels 
to the women, by them to the disciples, and by 
them to us; and that is, that he arose from the 
dead according to his promise. The recording 
witnesses of this fact state that they saw him, 
heard him, touched him, and had every possible 


28 


THE ANGELIC ANNUNCIATION. 


proof that the body before them was the same 
that died on the cross. At least ten interviews 
with him are recorded, not by night only, but in 
the broad daylight, and before at least five hun- 
dred spectators. In attestation of this testimony, 
they suffered every kind of loss, torture, and cal- 
umny, and even death itself. They had no motive 
to maintain a falsehood from this life, where its 
only reward was suffering ; and none from the life 
to come, where all liars have their part in the 
burning lake. Hence their testimony was true, 
and the records of human history may be chal- 
lenged to furnish a statement, thus attested, that 
was not true. If there be, where is it? 

The fact that all the Jews did not believe this, 
so far from weakening its truth, rather strength- 
ens it. Had they all believed it, that belief might 
have been ascribed to their credulous, desire for a 
Messiah, that made them dupes of a story that 
fell in with their wishes, and that was not sifted 
as it would have been, had there been the cross- 
questioning of scepticism. The fact that so many 
refused to admit it proves that its evidence was 
examined with the utmost keenness ; the fact that 
so many believed it on the spot, and died for that 
belief, shows that the evidence was unanswerable. 
Hence we are sure that had there been any way 
to disprove the resurrection of Christ, or to ex- 
plain away the testimony of the hundreds who 


THE ANGELIC ANNUNCIATION. 


29 


affirmed, under every kind of penalty, that they 
had seen him alive, after his death and burial, we 
would have had such disproval or explanation from 
the men who were so anxious to give them. But 
as none has been given, we accept the resurrection 
of Christ as established by evidence so irresistible, 
that the laws of human action and the foundations 
of human history must all be destroyed, before we 
can suppose this evidence to be inconclusive or 
fallacious. Hence the fact announced by the 
angel is true — the Lord is risen. 

II. The Importance of the Resurrection of Christ 
is intimated by the urgency with which the women 
are sent to declare it to the disciples ; “ go quick- 
ly,” “ lo ! I have told you,” and the divine title 
given to him by the angel, “ the Lord.” 

The grand importance of the resurrection of 
Jesus is the fact, that it proves him to be the Christy 
and thus the Saviour of the world. 

This is the light in which it is constantly pre- 
sented in Scripture. Paul dwells upon it with 
reiterating energy. “If Christ be not raised, 
your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins,” 1 Cor. 
xv. 17. “The word of faith which we preach” 
is, “ that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the 
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that 
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt 
be saved ” Rom. x. 8, 9. So important was it 
deemed, that the apostles were ordained as an ex- 
3 * 


30 THE ANGELIC ANNUNCIATION. 

traordinary body of men, to be witnesses of this 
fact ; and hence it was essential to the apostolic 
office, that he who bore it, should have seen the 
risen Redeemer. Acts i. 22 ; 1 Cor. ix. 1. 

The reason for the fundamental position given 
to this fact is not obscure. Our Lord based his 
whole claim to be the Messiah on this issue. 
“ Destroy this temple, and in three days I will 
raise it up again,” was the challenge to rest the 
whole question of his Messiahship on his resur- 
rection from the dead. Hence, if he had not risen 
from the dead, his claim must have been destroyed. 

But there was a reason yet deeper, because of 
which these very challenges were made. It was 
the only fact that could authenticate such a claim 
as his, to be the Saviour of the world. He declared 
himself to be the great sacrifice for sin, and the 
Redeemer, who had opened up a passage from 
man the sinner, to God the Sovereign ; from an 
earth all dark with the curse of death, to a heaven 
all bright with the blessing of eternal life. But 
how shall we know that the sacrifice is accepted, 
and the way open? How shall we know that he 
who died on the cross did not die, as all others 
die, for his own sin ? How shall we know that 
he can carry us through the dark valley, and pre- 
sent us faultless before the throne, on the ground 
of his atoning work? Only by his returning 
from the presence of the Judge, and assuring us 


THE ANGELIC ANNUNCIATION. 


31 


that the debt of sin is cancelled ; by his return- 
ing from behind the veil in the Holiest of all, and 
assuring us that the sacrifice is accepted ; by his 
returning from the dark valley, and assuring us 
that the monster is slain which made it terrible. 
This, Christ did in his resurrection, and hence its 
fundamental importance as the central fact of the 
Gospel. 

With our instinctive dread of that dark un- 
known that lies beyond death, we need a Saviour 
who is evidently stronger than death, and who 
has shown his power to conquer it. We want to 
know that he can carry us through those awful 
shades, and bring us safely to the bright land be- 
yond. We stand shivering on the shore of a vast 
ocean, and shrink as we gaze on its silent and 
illimitable waters ; and we need, a voice that can 
assure us that He who invites us to enter the ark 
has himself made the perilous passage, and can 
bring us in safety to the distant and unseen isles 
of the blest. Hence, it was needful that He who 
is to be our trust in death, should come back from 
that unknown sea, and assure us that he was able 
to carry us to those blessed abodes, where the 
storm and the night never come. This made it 
needful that Christ should return from the dead. 

But the resurrection of Christ also confirmed his 
claims to be a divine Saviour. 

The angels do not speak of him to the women 


32 


THE ANGELIC ANNUNCIATION. 


as their Lord, but as “ the Lord as the Lord of 
angels as well as of men, the one Lord, who can 
be nothing less than divine. Their reference to 
the place where he lay was a kind of exulting 
implication that he could not be held by the 
power of the grave, because of his supreme and 
divine Lordship. Hence, Paul alleges, that he 
was “ declared to be the Son of God, with power, 
according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrec- 
tion from the dead.” It is not meant that the fact 
of resurrection implied Divinity, for others had 
arisen from the dead who were not divine. Nor 
is it meant that the resurrection constituted Christ 
the Son of God, for he was that before he entered 
the world ; the angels being called to worship him, 
when as the first begotten Son he was brought 
into the world. Heb. i. 6. But he was “ declared” 
to be the Son by the resurrection, since God thus 
endorsed his claims to that effect, during his life, 
by raising him from a death to which he had been 
condemned for making these claims. Hence, his 
resurrection proves him to have been “ God mani- 
fest in the flesh,” the divine, incarnate Word. 

The resurrection of Christ also confirms and 
connects the great doctrines of the Christian system. 

Many of the types and shadows of the Old Tes- 
tament receive their full significance only from 
their connection with this great fact. The new 
life of Noah from the ark and the deluge, the 


THE ANGELIC ANNUNCIATION. 33 

wonderful offering and deliverance of Isaac, the 
living bird in the purification of the leper, the 
living goat on the great day of atonement, and 
other facts of the Old Testament — all receive their 
full illumination, only by connecting them with 
the resurrection of our Lord. 

But equally does it illustrate and enforce the 
great doctrines of the New Testament. 

Is justification enforced? It is by the tri- 
umphant reference to this fact, as the evidence that 
this justification is now complete. “It is God 
that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is 
Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again — 
who also maketh intercession for us,” Rom. viii. 33. 
This justifying righteousness shall be “imputed” 
to us, “ if we believe on him that raised up Jesus 
onr Lord from the dead ; who was delivered for 
our offences, and raised again for our justification,” 
Rom. iv. 24, 25. 

Is regeneration taught ? It is by linking it with 
this fact as its necessary antecedent, and its great 
type. “ You hath he quickened, who were dead in 
trespasses and sins, — together with Christ, and hath 
raised us up together, and made us sit together in 
heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” “ Which is the 
exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who 
believe, according to the working of his mighty 
power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised 
him from the dead,” Eph. ii. 1, 5 ; i. 19, 20. 


34 


THE ANGELIC ANNUNCIATION. 


“Buried with him in baptism,” (the baptism of the 
Spirit, which is regeneration,) “ wherein also ye are 
risen with him through the faith of the operation 
of God, who hath raised him from the dead,” Col. 
ii. 12. The apostle argues our new life from the 
resurrection of Christ, in Rom. vi. 2 — 12, showing 
that as we have died with him, by our spiritual 
connection with his death, so we must live 
with him spiritually, as he rose from the dead; 
since the same Holy Spirit that quickened his 
body, is granted to regenerate our souls. 

Is holiness of heart and life enjoined ? It is by 
appealing to the same fact. “If ye then be risen 
with Christ, seek those things which are above. — 
Set your affections on things above,” Col. iii. 1, 2. 
The loftiest aspiration that the apostle could 
breathe for himself and others was that they 
might know Christ, and “ the power of his resur- 
rection,” Phil. iii. 10 ; and the climax that he 
gives to a most impressive exhibition of his 
Christian life is, “always bearing about in the 
body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life 
also of Jesus might be made manifest in our 
body.” 2 Cor, iv. 10. 

Is comfort offered ? It is rested on this great 
fact. To the trembling apostle in Patmos, the 
word of cheer that Christ himself uttered was, 
“Fear not! — I am he that liveth and was dead, 
and behold I am alive evermore,” Rev. i. 18. To 


THE ANGELIC ANNUNCIATION. 


35 


the bereaved mourner, the word of comfort to 
assuage sorrow is, “If we believe that Jesus died 
and rose again, even so them which sleep in Jesus, 
will God bring with him,” 1 Thess. iv. 14. And 
when He who spake as never man spake, would 
give comfort to the weeping sisters of Bethany, it 
was with the sublime words, “ I am the resurrec- 
tion and the life.” 

These words of Christ suggest another aspect 
of great importance in the resurrection of our 
Lord. It secures and illustrates our own resurrec- 
tion. 

The apostle Paul in that magnificent argument 
for the resurrection, contained in 1 Cor. xv., 
makes the resurrection of Christ the first fruits 
and guaranty of the resurrection of his people. 
This fact settles the questions that have been 
raised in regard to the nature of the resurrection 
body, its identity with the body that died, and 
kindred speculations. If the resurrection of 
Christ is the example, then the same body that 
was put into the grave, shall hear the voice of the 
Son of God, and come forth from the grave ; all 
apparent difficulties notwithstanding. We know 
not how the dead are raised or with exactly what 
body they come ; but we know that as the same 
body which was laid in the grave arose from it, in 
Christ’s case, so “ He that raised up Christ from 
the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies 


36 


THE ANGELIC ANNUNCIATION. 


by bis Spirit that dwelleth in you,” Rom. viii. 11. 
We can therefore safely leave all questions of this 
kind to be solved by the “ power of God.” 

It will thus be seen how vitally important this 
great fact is in the Christian system. It lies at 
the very foundation of that system, and runs 
through all its parts. It is the great fact that as- 
sures a dying world, that there is one who has 
conquered death, and brought life and immortality 
to light in the Gospel. It is the great demonstra- 
tion to a perishing race, that Christ is mighty to 
save, and may be trusted by every creature. It is 
the precious fact that has hallowed the grave, and 
made it but a couch of repose to the slumbering 
dust, that shall awake on the great morning that 
is one day to dawn on the earth ; just as the body 
of Christ did, when the angel descended from 
heaven, and the earthquake shook the grave. 
Hence it whispers comfort to the mourner, for it 
tells him that the parted shall meet again, and the 
form that has been laid down in corruption, shall 
come forth in incorruption, like to Christ’s glori- 
ous body. Hence, also, it disarms death of its 
terror to the believer, and transforms the grave 
into a quiet garner where the precious dust shall 
be safely treasured, until the trumpet shall sound, 
and the dead be raised incorruptible. We, there- 
fore, can readily see why the angels urged the 
women to go quickly and tell this glad tidings, 
that the Lord was risen. 


LOVE WEEPING AT THE SEPULCHRE. 87 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE FIRST APPEARANCE. — LOVE WEEPING AT THE 
SEPULCHRE. 

The first appearance, why to Mary Magdalene — The order of events 
— The unspoken name — The two words — “ Touch me not” — The 
brother’s message. The two mourners : I. The spiritual mourner — 
The cause of spiritual gloom — The cure — The test — Rabboni. II. 
The natural mourner — The bereaved — The disappointed — The 
fearful — The cure of all earthly sorrow. 

“Why art thou cast down ? Oh my soul ! 

And why art thou disquieted within me ? 

Hope thou in God ! For I shall yet praise Him, 

Who is the health of my countenance, 

And my God.” 

“Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he 
appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he cast seven devils.” 
— Mark xvi. 9. 

“ But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping : and as she 
wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two 
angels in white, sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the 
feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Wo- 
man, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have 
taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. 
And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus 
standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Wo- 
man, why weepest thou ? whom seekest thou? She supposing him 
to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, 
tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus 
saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rab- 
boni : which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; 
4 


38 


THE FIRST APPEARANCE. 


for I am not yet ascended to my Father : but go to my brethren, and 
say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my 
God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples 
that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things 
unto her.” — John xx. 11 — 18. 

The first appearance of our Lord was to Mary 
Magdalene. The reason for this distinguishing 
favour was probably because of the deeper inten- 
sity of her love. The first honour was to be 
placed on the first grace ; that love, which is the 
crowning grace of the Christian life. As far as 
we can judge from outward expressions of affec- 
tion, the love of Mary Magdalene was of a pecu- 
liar intensity. That she was an abandoned woman, 
as is commonly supposed, does not appear from 
Scripture, and is not probable. She had seven 
devils cast out of her; but demoniacal possession 
was not a state of vice, but of disease. She may 
have been only a diseased woman, relieved by our 
Lord, who had suffered much, and hence loved 
much. The intensity of her love is proved by 
her conduct. 

The order of events connected with this first 
appearance seems to be as follows : — The women, 
including Mary Magdalene, came to the sepulchre 
and found it empty. Mary Magdalene, in the first 
shock of her disappointment at finding the grave 
empty, did not wait for any thing more, but ran 
back to the city to tell Peter and John, that the 
body of Jesus was not there. Whilst she was 


LOVE WEEPING AT THE SEPULCHRE. 39 

gone, the angels appeared to the women who were 
left, and delivered the message to the disciples, 
and they returned toward the city to deliver it. 
As they were thus returning, Mary Magdalene, 
with Peter and John, came to the grave, and the 
two apostles saw the empty grave and the folded 
grave-clothes, as described in John xx. 1 — 10. 

They returned home, musing on these strange 
things, and left Mary weeping at the sepulchre. 
Not having waited to hear the words of the angels 
to the women, she knew not the fate of the body, 
but supposed that it had been rudely removed by 
the gardener, and her heart was ready to break 
because of this desecration of the body she so 
much loved. Moved with a vague, unconscious 
feeling of anguish, she stooped down and looked 
into the hollow chamber where the body had been 
laid, and then for the first time saw the angels, ' 
who appeared to the other women, but were in- 
visible to Peter and John, because they were not 
yet prepared for such a vision. The words of the 
angels to her differed from those spoken to the 
other women, and indicate the difference in their 
states of mind. They were affrighted at the sight 
of these heavenly messengers, and hence they were 
addressed with the words, “Fear not,” to soothe 
their fear. Mary, with the fearlessness of a 
mourning love, too intense to give room for any 
other feeling, was addressed with words directed 


40 


THE FIRST APPEARANCE 


not to fear but to grief, “ Why weepest thou ?” 
This simple incident lays bare the feelings of each, 
and shows the absorbing intensity of Mary’s love 
to Jesus, that left no space for any feeling that re- 
ferred to herself, like the emotion of fear. In 
reply to this question of the angels, she said, 
“ They have taken away my Lord, and I know not 
where they have laid him.” Hearing at this in- 
stant a step behind her, she partly turned around, 
and saw some one, whom, with her eyes blinded 
with tears, she did not recognize. He repeated 
the question, “Why weepest thou?” Supposing 
him to be the gardener, in the tearful glance she 
had given backward, she said, “Sir, if thou have 
borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid 
him, and I will take him away.” Here again we 
see the deep love of her heart. She does not 
reply directly to the supposed gardener, as she 
had to the angels, because she suspected him of 
being the violator of the grave, and felt a rising 
of resentment at this intrusion into her grief. To 
the angels, whom she thought to be sympathizing 
friends, she tells her grief ; to the supposed author 
of the removal of the body, she only asks to be 
allowed to relieve him of what he had treated as 
an incumbrance. And she utters no name. Per- 
haps she thought, in the fulness of her heart, that 
there was but one being that could occupy the 
thoughts of any one, as there was then with her 


LOVE WEEPING AT THE SEPULCHRE. 41 

but one object of solicitude. Perhaps she felt that 
sacredness that often hallows the name of the 
dead in the lips of the living, making it an un- 
spoken word, the name of one in heaven, which 
to utter on earth, were a species of sacrilege. 
Whatever be the exact reason, it is evident that 
her heart was full, almost to bursting, as she ut- 
tered these words. 

Then occurred a scene of most impressive 
beauty. But two words were spoken ; but they 
were full of meaning. Jesus said to her, “Mary!” 
and at once the old, familiar tones of love an- 
nounced the blessed one, whom she mourned ; 
and turning completely round, she flung herself at 
his feet in a gush of rapturous embrace, and from 
the depths of a glad heart exclaimed, “ Rabboni,” 
“ My Master ! my Lord 1” 

She would fain have clung to his feet and in- 
dulged the luxury of gladness, but Jesus forbade 
her, saying, “Touch me not, for I am not yet 
ascended to my Father.” This prohibition was 
very remarkable, because in a few minutes after- 
wards he allowed the women to do the very act 
here forbidden to Mary. The reason of this 
difference will then be more fully discussed. In 
this case, it was doubtless because of erroneous 
impressions under which Mary laboured in regard 
to him, and which she expressed by this forbidden 
act. She thought doubtless that he had returned 
4 * 


42 


THE FIRST APPEARANCE. 


to life, to remain with them on earth, and set up 
a visible kingdom, and she may have uttered 
words to that effect, a fact indicated by the name 
with which she addressed him, Rabboni. Christ 
desired to correct this error, and hence checked 
the act that was its expression. He thus assured 
her that the time for this anticipated enjoyment 
had not yet come. He was not yet entered upon 
that final condition where this loving intercourse 
could be enjoyed, and where a whole eternity 
would give scope for every expression of love. 
In the present state of transition, duty was more 
sacred than delight, and must ever be preferred. 
Hence he forbids the indulgence of those feelings 
of delight, and bids her go to the disciples, who 
were indulging the same dream of an earthly 
kingdom, and tell them the same corrective truth. 
“ I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God 
and your God.” There is an exquisite tenderness 
in this message to the drooping disciples. He 
calls them not his disciples but his brethren, the 
children of a common Father and God, to assure 
them in their discouragement that he still loved 
them, and forgave their sorrowful desertion of 
him in his hour of need. He thus assures them 
that they had not forfeited his affection, or lost 
their brotherhood by their conduct. Such a mes- 
sage at such a time was full of the most unspeak- 
able tenderness, and doubtless was so felt by the 
dispirited disciples, when delivered by Mary. 


LOYE WEEPING AT THE SEPULCHRE. 43 

The whole scene is one of the most ardent 
love on the one side, and the most touching ten- 
derness on the other, and is full of instruction. 
There were two causes of grief to Mary, and hence 
two cases of mourning love are illustrated: the 
one spiritual, the other natural. Let us look at 
them both. 

1. The spiritual grief. Mary mourned an absent 
Saviour. She wept because the tomb was empty, 
and she knew not where they had laid him. There 
was no lack of love. Her tears proved her love. 
There was no lack of a certain kind of faith. 
She believed as far as she comprehended. Her 
error was that she did not know that Christ 
meant all that he said, when he declared that he 
would rise from the dead. She did not take him 
simply at his word, as that word was uttered, and 
hence she was in darkness. 

Do we not often repeat the same error in our 
spiritual gloom? We mourn an absent Lord. 
Our hopes are gone ; and the candle of the Lord 
that once shone bright, is now gone out. We 
may have stood at the cross, and gazed with tear- 
ful eyes at the thorns, the nails, and the spear, as 
we saw Christ evidently crucified before us. We 
may have gone to the sepulchre, and seen the place 
where the Lord lay. We may be convinced 
in a word that Christ died for sinners, and be 
deeply moved by the love displayed in that death ; 


44 


THE FIRST APPEARANCE. 


but we have no hope that he is our Saviour, and 
as we look into our hearts, we find no comfort, 
nothing but “ an aching void,” and we say sadly, 
“ They have taken away my Lord, and I know not 
where to find him” We find in our hearts an 
empty sepulchre, not a risen Saviour. 

Let us then go to Mary weeping at the grave, 
and try to comfort her. She feels that if she had 
loved her Saviour as she ought, she would not 
thus have lost him. She is forsaken because she 
has no part in this atoning Saviour. Would we 
not say to her, “ Would you weep thus, 0 Mary, 
if you did not love ? Would you mourn thus an 
absent Lord, if you had no delight in his pres- 
ence ? Are not your tears a proof of your love ?” 

The reasoning we feel would be correct in her 
case ; and is it less correct in your case, O droop- 
ing disciple? You too are mourning an absent 
Saviour, and not only mourning but seeking him. 
You have not remained at your home in the city, 
but have gone forth, rising early and seeking him, 
where he is likely to be found. You have sought 
him as you went to the mercy-seat, to the word, 
to the house of God, and to the Lord’s table, 
saying, “ Oh, that I knew where I might find him !” 
But would you thus long for him, if you had no 
love for him? Would you thus desire his pres- 
ence, if you had no delight in him ? May he not be, 
is he not near you, though your eyes, all blinded 


LOYE WEEPING AT THE SEPULCHRE. 45 

as they are with tears, cannot see him ? Is he not 
even now gently saying, “Why weepest thou? 
whom seekest thou ?” 

Your error is probably the same with Mary’s. 
There is genuine love, and genuine faith, but you 
are looking for an evidence on which to rest 
your hope, that you have no right to expect. 
Mary was sad, because she looked for something 
more than the simple assurance of Christ, that he 
would rise again. She did not receive Christ’s 
words in their simplicity. She obeyed him, be- 
lieved him, loved him, and sought him, but did 
not rest simply on his promise. And is it not so 
with you, O mourner ? You are striving to 
obey, believe, love, and seek Christ, but you are 
looking for something more than the simple word 
of his promise as the ground of your personal 
hope. You are looking into your dark and cold 
heart to find some great work there, some great 
voice, some great light or power within, instead of 
simply believing the word of promise. You are 
looking to see the angel descend and roll away the 
hard and heavy stone that rests on this flinty sep- 
ulchre, and see the dead come forth before your 
eyes, and hear him announce to you that Christ is 
formed within yoi^ the hope of glory. This is 
the cause of your sorrow. You have forgotten 
the word of promise on which you are to hope. 
“ Look unto me, and be ye saved.” “ Believe, and 


46 


THE FIRST APPEARANCE. 


thou shalt be saved.” You have been seeking for 
something more than the word of Christ as jour 
ground of hope, some inward working, some new 
revelation to you individually, which would be a 
virtual dishonour of the written word, and hence 
you are sad. Only believe. Look away from the 
empty grave of your heart to Christ, and gaze and 
listen, and look and love, and ere you are aware, 
you will find yourself rejoicing in his presence 
and a sense of his love, and your soul as the char- 
iots of Amminadib. 

If you desire a test of your heart, you have it 
in the words of Jesus and Mary. There were but 
two words spoken, but they were full of meaning. 
They were names , and as such embodied the very 
essential relations of the persons named. Jesus 
addressed her with the tender, familiar name by 
which she was known to him as a disciple. There 
was no elaborate reasoning, no new truth, only 
that one word of gentle expostulation and tender 
reproach. Mary ! “ Do you not know me ? Do 
you not remember the words of my promise?” It 
was by simply hearing the voice of Jesus, though 
it uttered no new truth, that the heart of Mary 
leaped in responsive love, and cried, “ Rabboni, 
my Master.” Here is the test of discipleship, and 
faith. You may say “Immanuel, Jesus, Saviour,” 
may love to think of Christ as the Redeemer from 
suffering, but do you also say “ Master,” and love to 


LOYE WEEPING AT THE SEPULCHRE. 47 

obey bis commandments ? Do you take bim as 
your Master, your King, and try to keep all bis 
precepts? If so, be of good comfort, for be 
calletb thee. If your heart is ever ready to say 
Rabboni, is now saying it by a holy and willing 
obedience to all bis /Commands, he is near you 
though you see him not ; and you have only to 
turn away from the empty grave, to look away 
from your cold and dark heart, and you shall 
find as you look backward and upward, that it is 
his voice that says to you, “ Why weepest thou ? 
whom seekest thou ?” Then look to Jesus and 
listen to Jesus, 0 mourner, if you would rejoice. 
Look upward, not downward, outward, not inward, 
to the work of Jesus, his finished righteousness in 
heaven, and not to the work of the Spirit yet un- 
finished in your heart on earth ; and then and 
thus only your tossing heart shall find rest. 

2. Natural grief may also find some consola- 
tion from this scene at the sepulchre. Mary had 
lost her dearest earthly friend, and felt that she 
was alone, and that earth had lost a portion of its 
light to her weeping eyes. She was a bereaved 
mourner, 

Here also, she can have many to sympathize 
with her. You also are a bereaved mourner. 
That sweet infantile face that once was so bright 
with smiles is now cold and still in the coffin, and 
the clods of the valley are resting on that little 


48 


THE FIRST APPEARANCE. 


form that you have so often strained to your heart. 
Or you have seen the grave close on the silent re- 
mains of one who has walked life’s pilgrimage 
with you for many a day, and whose removal 
leaves you stricken, widowed, lonely, with an un- 
utterable desolation. 

But if you are not weeping without hope, there 
stands near you at the grave, another form that 
says in reproachful tenderness, “ Why weepest 
thou ?” And if in the anguish of an unsubdued 
grief, your heart would say with Mary, “ Give me 
back my dead, tell me where you have laid him 
that I may come and take him away,” the same 
reproving, though gentle call comes to you. Mary ! 
“ Was it not I who took away ? Did I not take 
the little lamb to a greener pasture and a brighter 
sky than any to be found below ? Did I not take 
the partner of your earthly joys away, that you 
might be a partner in heavenly joys ? And can you 
not submit to it humbly, when I have done it ?” 
As soon as a loving heart can hear this voice, its 
response will be, Rabboni ! “It is the Lord, let 
him do what seemeth him good.” “ The Lord gave 
and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the 
name of the Lord.” “Nevertheless not my will, 
0 God, but thine be done.” 

So is it with every form of earthly sorrow. 
To the wreck of hopes, the loss of property, the 
coldness of friends, all that usually darkens life, 


LOVE WEEPING AT THE SEPULCHRE. 49 


will we be rendered more submissive by this simple 
recognition of the sovereignty of Christ, that is 
implied in the word Rabboni. He is our Master, 
and has a right to assign to us, as his servants, 
what he deems best, and in the end we shall see 
that it was best, and the first step to that sight, is 
that of sweet, unmurmuring submission to the will 
of Christ, as our Sovereign Lord. 

The same thought may be carried on to the 
future, so as to remove our fears. We perhaps 
dread the coming of unknown sorrows, more than 
the endurance of those that are known. We can 
bear those that we now have, but we shrink from 
what may happen in the future, sickness, disap- 
pointment, poverty, reproach, or that dark and 
fearful valley that lies between us and a vast eter- 
nity. These excite our dread. But if you now 
obey the voice of Jesus in his commands, you 
shall then hear the voice of Jesus in his comforts. 
When you pass through the rivers, he will be with 
you. When you walk through the fire, even 
though it be a furnace seven times heated, there 
shall be beside you a form, like unto the form of 
the Son of God. And when at last you begin to 
enter the dark valley, he will be with you there, 
his rod and staff shall comfort you, and his words 
shall not be those to Mary, “ Touch me not, for I 
have not yet ascended to my Father and your 
5 


50 


THE FIRST APPEARANCE. 


Father,” but, “ Come up hither,” and the weary 
shall be at rest. 

We have then, in this scene at the sepulchre, 
much comfort for every mourner, who weeps with 
a heart that loves the Saviour. To every such 
weeper, there is the assurance that whatever be 
the cause of the sorrow, Jesus is near the soul ; 
and it needs no new truth, no new revelation, to 
bring comfort, but only to recall what has been 
already spoken, and long known, the “ words of 
Jesus,” the sure and unfailing promises on which 
we may and ought to rest with an absolute and 
unquestioning trust. Thus believing, and look- 
ing, and listening, our weeping may endure for a 
night, but joy shall return in the morning. 


OBEDIENCE REWARDED. 


51 


CHAPTER V. 

THE SECOND APPEARANCE — OBEDIENCE REWARDED. 

Order of events : Lessons from the second appearance. I. The mis- 
sion of woman — Why the women selected to tell the first tidings of 
the resurrection — They do so still — Augustine — Alfred — Hall — 
Halyburton — Doddridge — Wesley — Randolph — The convicted in- 
fidel — A mother’s power. II. The salutation of Jesus — Blessings 
met only in the path of obedience. III. Jesus worshipped — Why 
Mary Magdalene was forbidden what was allowed to the other wo- 
men — The divinity of Christ. IV. The brotherly appellation — The 
new name — The elder brother. V. The brotherly messages — Why 
meet in Galilee — The great appointment — Be ye also ready. 

“ Let us obey, we then shall know, 

Shall feel our sins forgiven, 

Anticipate our heaven below, 

And own that love is heaven.” 

“ And as they went to tell his disciples, behold Jesus met them, 
saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet and wor- 
shipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid : go tell my 
brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.” — 
Matt, xxviii. 9, 10. 

This was the second appearance of our Lord, 
and must have been immediately after that to 
Mary Magdalene. The order of events seems to 
have been as already indicated, that as soon as 
Mary saw the grave to be empty, she ran back to 
the city to inform Peter and John, who immedi- 


52 THE SECOND APPEARANCE. 

ately came in great haste to see the sepulchre. 
Meanwhile, the women, whom Mary had left, saw 
the vision of angels, and turned back to the city 
to announce the resurrection to the disciples. 
Immediately after their departure, Mary, Peter, 
and John came to the grave, and after Peter and 
John had left it, Mary had the first sight of the 
risen Saviour, and was sent by him to the disci- 
ples, who were doubtless in different parts of the 
city. All this would occupy but a short time, if 
we only suppose that Peter and John were lodg- 
ing in a part of the city near the sepulchre. 
After this interview with Mary, and whilst the 
women were going, by a longer road, to probably 
a more distant part of the city than that where 
Peter and John were lodging, Jesus met them, 
and afforded them the second appearance after the 
resurrection. In this appearance, there are seve- 
ral thoughts suggested, worthy of consideration. 

1. The mission of woman. 

It is a striking fact, that both the visions of 
angels, both the first annunciations of the resur- 
rection, and both the first appearances of Christ, 
were made to the women. Why was this ? Why 
not to Peter, John, Joseph, Nicodemus, or some 
others of the eleven ? It cannot be that six facts 
so important should have happened without design 
and meaning. Why was it thus ordered ? Pro- 
bably for the same reason that placed three women 


OBEDIENCE REWARDED. 


53 


to one man at the cross, and now places three 
women to one man at the communion table. The 
female heart has a quicker sympathy and a 
stronger drawing to religion than the male, and 
hence is found more generally in a state of greater 
preparedness for it. It is more confiding and 
pure than the male, and hence receives the glad 
tidings with more readiness. The hearts of men 
come so early and so much in contact with a sin- 
ful world, that they become more seared and hard- 
ened than those of women, and therefore less dis- 
posed to believe and obey the Saviour. It was so 
with the male and female disciples of Jesus. 
When the men forsook him and fled, and gave up 
all hope, and refused to believe the first announce- 
ment of the resurrection, the women clung to him, 
even to the end, were last at the cross, last at the 
sepulchre, earliest to return, and easiest to believe 
that Christ had risen indeed. It was doubtless in 
view of this fact, the greater preparedness of 
heart possessed by the women, that those six dis- 
tinctions were granted to them, and that only 
their eyes were allowed to see the angels. 

But as we look a little closer at this fact, we find 
that it was not so exceptional a fact, as it appeared 
at first sight. It seems strange that the first 
tidings of the resurrection from human lips, should 
have been, not from the lips of the apostles, who 
were to be the authorized heralds of this fact, but of 
5 * 


54 


THE SECOND APPEARANCE. 


the women who were to be forbidden to speak in 
the church. It seems at first sight a singular ex- 
ception to the divinely ordained plan for proclaim- 
ing the glad tidings of a finished redemption. Yet, 
a little reflection will show us, that it is not excep- 
tional, but the very order of arrangement that is 
repeated in every generation of the world. The 
fact is the same that exists in the case of a vast 
majority of Christians ever since. We first hear 
the story of the cross, the sepulchre, and the 
throne, not from the lips of a man who stands as 
an ambassador for Christ ; but from the lips of a 
woman, a pious mother, sister, or nurse, who pours 
into our infantile hearts this wonderful tale of 
love and mercy. Some, it is true, are left to an 
early orphanage, and some to a godless parentage ; 
but even of these the general fact is true that the 
first knowledge of Jesus is learned, not from the 
lips of men, but from the lips of women. 

This is a fact of deep moment in the divine or- 
dering.- This linking of the family with the 
church, this intertwining of the household of flesh 
with the household of faith, and this interlacing 
of the roots of the good olive tree with the olive 
plants of the vineyard, is a most precious and im- 
portant fact. It thus brings the gentle heart of 
woman in living contact with the gentle heart of 
childhood, and leaves impressions of religious 
truth that are never effaced, and are often the 
means under God of leading the soul to Christ. 


OBEDIENCE REWARDED. 


55 


It is, under God, to the prayers and perseverance 
of Monica that the church owes Augustine. It 
was Judith the step-mother of Alfred that first 
moulded his heart, and prepared him to be one of 
England’s saintliest monarchs. Bishop Hall re- 
cords his indebtedness to his mother in terms that 
place her beside Monica. Halyburton acknow- 
ledges his great obligation to the early religious 
training of his mother. The mother of Doddridge, 
the mother of the Wesleys, have come down to us 
linked with the piety of their illustrious children. 
The agency of the mothers of Newton, Cecil, and 
Claudius Buchanan, in the conversion of their sons 
is well known. Indeed Christian biography is 
crowded with memorials of God’s seal on the pa- 
tient piety of praying mothers. John Randolph 
declared, “ I believe I should have been swept 
away by the flood of French infidelity, if it had 
not been for one thing — the remembrance of the 
time when my sainted mother used to make me 
kneel by her side, taking my little hands folded 
in hers, and cause me to repeat the Lord’s prayer.” 
One of our Western Missionaries states that 
during a revival in his field, a scoffing infidel was 
at length brought to his knees, and the first cry 
that burst from his quivering lips, was, “ God of 
my mother, have mercy on me.” 

Hence we have in these first appearances a prc 
sentation of the mission of woman. She is first 


56 


THE SECOND APPEARANCE. 


to utter to the opening soul the story of the cross, 
and utter it in tones which, though earliest heard, 
are latest forgotten or effaced. This story is first 
heard, not from the pulpit, the press, or the lips of 
man, but from the lips of woman, in the sweet 
cradle-hymns that soothe the young nursling to 
sleep, as the mother sings, “ Hush, my babe, lie 
still and slumber in the simple songs of the 
nursery, when the lisping tongue of childhood is 
taught to say, “ Jesus, tender shepherd, hear me 
in the story of that babe of Bethlehem, cradled in 
the manger, and that gentle and crucified man of 
Calvary, whose sufferings make the young lip to 
quiver and the eye to fill, with such deep emotion ; 
and in those musings of heaven that fill the child’s 
heart, as it learns that Jesus has there tenderly fold- 
ed the little babe that died, and that in that bright 
home above the stars, there is no night, no sorrow, 
and no tears. These are the deep, indelible tra- 
cings of holy things on the human heart. The 
boy may become wayward, and the man wicked, 
he may learn to scoff at religion, and grow hoary 
in sin ; but let an hour of sickness or sorrow come 
upon him, and the world grows dark ; and then, 
like the vision of an angel, there will rise in his 
heart the image of his mother ; he will remember 
the time when her soft hand was laid on his head, 
as he knelt beside her in prayer ; he will remember 
when that hand, then thin and pale, was laid 


OBEDIENCE REWARDED. 


57 


feebly but fondly in bis, as, with her dying lips, 
she commended her boy to God, and prayed that 
she might meet him in heaven ; and in those hours 
of solemn and tender memories,- the hard heart 
will melt, and the unbidden tears will gush from 
the eyes of the most obdurate, at the sweet re- 
membrance of a mother’s love and a mother’s 
piety. 

The mission then of mother, wife, and sister, is 
one of high and solemn import, and one, the ne- 
glect of which must draw after it fearful guilt. If 
she tells those who ought to learn from her of 
Christ, the wretched babble of worldliness and sin, 
and leads them not to the fountain that flows from 
the riven Rock, but the broad, deep, rushing cur- 
rent of worldliness, her guilt must be heavy in- 
deed. It is a fearful crime for a Hindoo mother 
to bring her child, and commit him to the waters 
of the Ganges, and yet that unconscious babe may 
pass from the turbid waves of the river to the 
rest of heaven. But the worldly and godless 
mother, with a deadlier cruelty, brings her child 
to a stream, whose end is in the abyss that is bot- 
tomless. Hence it becomes us to remember as we 
see the women hastening to tell first the news of 
a risen Redeemer, that we have here presented to 
us what is woman’s mission still, to be the earliest 
to tell to the opening soul the story of a Saviour. 


58 


THE SECOND APPEARANCE. 


2. The Salutation of Jesus , “All hail? 

The words of salutation that we find in every 
language are beautiful evidences of the fact that, 
amidst all the ruins of the fall, there is yet re- 
maining in the heart of man much of natural kind- 
ness. They imply in their very structure, the ex- 
istence of sorrows and danger ; but they also im- 
ply that there is a power that can comfort and 
protect, and in many cases they are really, in 
form, a kind of ejaculatory prayer. Never was 
the word of salutation more significantly uttered 
than when it came from the lips of Jesus. It was 
then, in very deed, a benediction. The Greek 
word used here, is well rendered by the phrase, 
“all-hail.” Hail is a verbal form now nearly ob- 
solete, though substantially retained in the word 
“hale,” healthy, in a different spelling. It means 
literally, all-health, all kinds of health, bodily and 
spiritual, and indicates a condition necessary as a 
prerequisite to any rejoicing. 

But the noteworthy fact is that this benediction 
came to them, not when they were seeking it, but 
when they were only intent on their duty. They 
were obeying the commands of the angel, when 
they enjoyed the appearance of Christ. 

Thus is it also with the mourning Christian. 
Obedience is the pathway to blessing. If a Chris- 
tian is mourning an absent Lord, and has lost his 
hope, instead of sitting down in repining sorrow, 


OBEDIENCE REWARDED. 


59 


let him go and tell his brethren some message 
from the word, go and do his duty and work for 
Christ, and he shall find in his own experience, 
that it is more blessed to give than to receive, that 
whilst he comforts others he is himself comforted; 
and like the freezing traveller in the Alps, as he 
labours to recall life to the stiffening frame of an- 
other, it begins to flow more warmly in his own 
veins. In the path of duty, his obedience shall 
be commonly rewarded, as that of the women, by 
meeting Christ at some unexpected point, and 
hearing from his lips the gracious benediction, 
“All hail!” and he shall receive the blessing in- 
voked upon the well-beloved Gaius by the loving 
disciple, and prosper and be in health even as his 
soul prospereth. 

3. Jesus worshipped. “They came and held him 
by the feet, and worshipped him.” 

The fact that strikes us here is, that Christ per- 
mitted the women to do that now, which he for- 
bade to Mary but a few moments before. Why 
was this ? Not because he loved them more than 
her, for to her he granted the most signal mark of 
his favour, in first appearing to her. The reason 
is to be found in the difference of feeling that 
prompted the act. Mary embraced his feet, be- 
cause she thought that Christ had returned to 
remain on earth, and set up an earthly kingdom, 
and her act expressed this conviction, and was an 


60 THE SECOND APPEAKANCE. 

utterance of welcome. Hence, Jesus forbade it, 
and assured her that the time for this joyous re- 
union had not arrived. “ Touch me not 1” (with 
such views and expectations as these,) “ for I am 
not yet ascended to my Father and your Father,” 
have not yet reached that final home and rest, 
where these hopes and feelings shall be realized 
and may properly be expressed. 

But with the women, the feeling was adoration, 
not gratulation ; “ They fell at his feet and wor- 
shipped him,” thus recognizing him as the Divine 
Kedeemer, the Son of God, so declared with power 
by the resurrection of the dead. This feeling 
Jesus allowed to be expressed, and thus gave the 
most emphatic sanction to his Divinity, by per- 
mitting an act which evinced adoration of him as 
God, whilst he forbade the same act, when it only 
expressed affection for him as man. Had he not 
been aware that he had a right to this worship as 
God, he would have rejected it with as much 
horror as Paul and Barnabas did at Lystra, or the 
angel did in the Apocalypse. But receiving the 
embrace of worship, whilst he forbade that of wel- 
come, he gave the most impressive attestation to 
the fact that he was “ God manifest in the flesh 
11 the Word that was God, made flesh and dwelling 
among men the son of David, yet “ God over all, 
blessed for ever.” 


OBEDIENCE REWARDED. 


61 


4. The brotherly appellation. “ Go, tell my 
brethren .” 

The ordinary name given by Jesus to his fol- 
lowers was “disciples.” He never applied the 
term “ brethren ” to them but once before, and 
there it was made necessary by the remarks to 
which he replied. “ Whoso doeth the will of my 
Father, the same is my brother, and sister, and 
mother.” Here for the first time, as a spontane- 
ous appellation, he calls them his brethren. 

The reason of this is obvious, and lays bare the 
touching tenderness of his heart. The disciples 
had forsaken him and fled, and in unbelieving 
despair, had given up all as lost. Hence, when 
they heard that he had risen from the dead, their 
first feeling would be that they had forfeited all 
claims to his regard, and been cut off from all re- 
lation to him. It was in beautiful condescension 
to these fears, and relief to these accusings, that 
he addressed them, after all this cowardice and un- 
belief, not as culprits or deserters, not even as 
disciples or friends, but with the endearing, and 
as yet unusual name of “brethren.” 

It is this long-suffering tenderness of Jesus that 
binds our hearts to him with so much constraining 
power. We also have forsaken, forgotten, and 
disbelieved him, have lost our first love and back- 
slidden from him. Had he treated us as we have 
him, we would long ago have been hopelessly re- 
6 


62 


THE SECOND APPEARANCE. 


jected. But in all our wanderings, as soon as he 
has seen the rising of a penitent desire to return, 
his message to us has ever been, “Go tell my 
brethren to return, and learn how freely Jesus can 
forgive.” That this forgiving and loving heart is 
even now throbbing on the throne, he gave us 
token in this brotherly message that he sent to the 
sinning disciples, at the very threshold of heaven. 
The long-suffering that he had at the very door of 
our Father’s house with its many mansions, he 
has still, for “he is not ashamed to call them 
brethren,” Ileb. ii. 11. 

5. The brotherly message. “ Go tell my brethren 
that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see 
me.” 

This message was in direct reference to the 
promise made before, Matt. xxvi. 32, “After I am 
risen again I will go before you into Galilee.” It 
was therefore an assurance to them, that although 
they had been unfaithful to him, he would not be 
so to them, but would keep his promises. 

But why did he make this appointment in 
Galilee ? Why not in Judea ? Judea was nearer 
to Jerusalem, and a more highly esteemed district 
of the country. For these very reasons he proba- 
bly chose Galilee. It was the most distant, and 
the least esteemed. There was many an humble 
heart in Galilee that longed to meet him, but 
could not because of disease, old age, distance, or 


OBEDIENCE REWARDED. 


63 


poverty, and for the sake of such he appointed 
the meeting there. It was then but another token 
of his love. This love appeared during all his 
public career. He seems to have had a yearning 
tenderness toward the despised Galileans. His 
first miracle was in Cana of Galilee ; his first 
teaching was there ; his sermon on the mount was 
delivered in Galilee ; he was transfigured there ; 
in Capernaum of Galilee he made his home ; on 
the sea of Galilee he walked the waves at mid- 
night, and stilled the storm ; on the shores of that 
sea he called the fishermen of Galilee by miracles 
wrought in its waters ; on the mountains that 
look down on that sea he spent long nights in 
prayer ; and from Galilee came those loving wo- 
men who were last at the cross and first at the 
sepulchre. Hence it was a new token of his love. 

To us he has left also an appointment, to meet 
him not in Galilee or Lebanon, but in “ Mount 
Zion, the city of the living God and that ap- 
pointment also he will keep, if we are but faithful. 
He “ will come again and receive us to himself,” 
in that place that is “preparing” for us, just as 
we are preparing for it. Let us endeavour to be 
ready for this meeting, when the summons comes. 


64 


THE THIRD APPEARANCE. 


CHAPTER VI. 

THE THIRD APPEARANCE. — THE PENITENT 
BACKSLIDER. 

The gradation — Why appear first to Peter ? I. The successive steps 
of the backslider. (1) An unsubdued will. (2) Undue self-confi- 
dence. (3) Neglect of prayer. (4) Neglect of warnings. (5) 
Following Christ afar off. (6) Tampering with temptation — The 
Avalanche. II. The sorrows of the backslider. The look in the 
palace, and the bitter weeping — The backslider's musings — The 
starless crown. III. The restoration of the backslider. The three 
steps — Penitence — Hope — Assurance — The two kinds of re- 
pentance. 

“ What precious hours I once enjoyed, 

How sweet their memory still ! 

But they have left an aching void 
The world can never fill. 

Return, 0 Holy Dove, return, 

Sweet messenger of rest, 

I hate the sins that made thee mourn 
And drove thee from my breast.” 

“ He was seen of Cephas.” 1 Cor. xv. 5. 

“ The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared unto Simon.” 
Luke xxiv. 34. 

Having reached the third appearance of our 
Lord, we are able to note a certain gradation in 
the appearances, which shows that they were not 
accidental, but pre-arranged on a definite plan, 
and designed to convey definite lessons. The first 


THE PENITENT BACKSLIDER. 


65 


appearance was to a loving disciple, the second to 
obedient disciples, the third, to a penitent back- 
slider. Thus we have three of the great graces of 
the Christian life, in their natural order. First is 
love, the coronal of the whole, the grace that is 
greater than faith and hope ; then obedience, that 
is better than sacrifices; then repentance, that 
grace of tears and trust, where love weeps at the 
cross, and looks back on the sins of the past with 
a sorrow all the deeper because those sins are for- 
given. Hence we have in these appearances a 
striking testimony of the order assigned to these 
graces by our Lord, in the Christian economy. 

We learn this appearance incidentally, and not 
by any direct record. But it is easy to determine 
its order. It must have been after the appearance 
to the women, and before that on the way to Em- 
maus, and probably during the forenoon of the 
day. 

The striking fact is, that he appeared first to 
Peter, and not to John or James. Why was this ? 
Not to confer authority or primacy among the 
apostles, for this is not once hinted any where, as 
to Peter, any more than as to the women. The 
reason is obvious. Peter was a penitent back- 
slider, with a heart all broken and bleeding in re- 
morseful anguish, and he who signalized his death 
on the cross by forgiving a penitent thief, would 
signalize his resurrection by forgiving a penitent 


66 


THE THIRD APPEARANCE. 


disciple. He thus most touchingly taught us, 
that the great object of his life, death, and life 
again, was to purchase pardon for the penitent, 
whether he was a returning prodigal, or a repent- 
ing backslider. Here then we reach the great 
lesson of this appearance, encouragement and 
warning to every penitent, but especially to every 
penitent backslider. This is Peter’s restoration 
as a man, not as an apostle, that being reserved 
for a future occasion. In this aspect then we will 
consider it, and trace, in the example of Peter, the 
steps, the sorrows , and the restoration of the back- 
slider, 

I. The successive steps of the backslider. 

It is impossible to trace the first step in the de- 
parture of Peter. It was probably far back in 
his history, and perceptible only to the omniscient 
eye. The angle of departure from the path of 
duty is so minute, that it cannot be traced until 
many steps are taken. Like the motion of the 
hands of a watch, each movement is so small as to 
be imperceptible, but in the end it is found to 
have traversed the entire circle. Thus is it usually 
in every case of backsliding, and thus was it pro- 
bably in the case of Peter. 

But there are successive steps that we ’can trace, 
by looking closely into his history. 

1. An unsubdued will. — The essence of all true 
piety is the absolute submission and unison of the 


THE PENITENT BACKSLIDER. 


67 


human will with the divine. It is the perfection 
of this that constitutes heaven, and it is for the 
attainment of this we are to pray in that compre- 
hensive petition, “ Thy will be done on earth, as it 
is done in heaven.” The want of this submission 
is proof of an imperfectly sanctified heart, and this 
we can trace in Peter. He was not as reverently 
submissive to the simple word of Christ as he 
should have been. This was shown in two in- 
stances. The first was, when Christ announced 
his coming death and was rebuked by Peter, so 
that he was forced to say to him, “Get thee 
behind me, Satan, for thou savourest not the 
things that be of God, but those that be of 
men.” The second was, when he refused at 
first to allow Christ to wash his feet, and after- 
wards, when compelled to yield, wanted to go be- 
yond the wish of Christ, and have his hands and 
his head also washed. These instances evince a 
want of that absolute submission of his will to 
Christ’s word, that is requisite to constitute true 
religion. 

2. Undue self-confidence . — The same primal law 
of all piety, the submission of our will to God’s 
will, generates a relinquishment of our strength 
for God’s strength, and thus becomes humility and 
self-distrust. Hence, Paul declares, “ when I am 
weak, then am I strong,” thus announcing the 
great law of the Christian life, that confidence in 


68 


THE THIRD APPEARANCE. 


our own strength is weakness, whilst such a sense 
of our own feebleness as leads us to cling to God, 
is strength. This vaunting confidence character- 
ized Peter. “ Though all men forsake thee, yet will 
not I,” was his rash boast. He was perfectly 
honest in this declaration, but was resting on his 
own strength too much, in making it, was sinfully 
self-confident, and hence bereft of that protection 
of God that is given only to the lowly, trusting, 
and supplicating spirit. 

3. Neglect of prayer . — Although the common 
remark, that backsliding begins in the closet, is 
not strictly true, it is true that it always reaches 
the closet. It begins in the heart, but soon ap- 
pears in the closet. Hence it reaches the prayer- 
meeting, producing first a disrelish of its services, 
and then a neglect of them. Thus it was with 
Peter. Our Lord requested him, in connection 
with James or John, to hold a prayer-meeting in 
Gethsemane, whilst he passed through his agony 
there, but instead of watching and praying, Peter 
was asleep. So will it be found with the back- 
slider. When the disciples come together to pray, 
the least guilty reason of his absence will proba- 
bly be that he is asleep in Gethsemane, that he has 
lost his relish for prayer, and* forgets or neglects 
the appointment for its performance. 

4. Neglect of warnings , and a thoughtless rushing 
into temptation . — Impatience under rebuke, is a 


THE PENITENT BACKSLIDER. 


sure mark of backsliding, and neglect of warning 
is the sure precursor of a fall. Our Lord warned 
Peter repeatedly of his danger, assuring him that 
Satan had desired to sift him as wheat, and even 
telling him that before the cock would crow twice 
he should deny him thrice. Yet in spite of these 
warnings, he rushed into temptation, and therefore 
fell into sin. Thus is it ever with the backslider. 

5. — Following Christ afar off. Peter did not 
wholly separate himself from Christ, nor did he 
wholly join himself to him. He was too much of 
a believer to forsake him entirely, and too much 
of a backslider to follow him entirely ; and hence 
he followed him “ afar off,” nearer to the world 
than to the Lord. Thus is it also with the back- 
slider. He cannot openly renounce Christ, nor 
can he openly renounce the world, but timidly 
follows Christ so far off, that he cannot be distin- 
guished from the world. 

6. — Tampering with temptation. Conscious as 
Peter must have been of his weakness, he ought 
to have avoided temptation. But instead of this 
he deliberately dallied with danger, and first 
mingling with the enemies of Christ, he stood at 
the gate, then entered the palace, and then sat 
down with the servants by the fire, listening to 
the revilings and mockeries that were heaped on 
his Master, and not uttering a word in his defence. 
He thought that he could escape in silence. But 


70 


THE THIRD APPEARANCE. 


he was recognized and challenged. He affected 
ignorance in reply to the maid. He was again 
challenged, and denied his discipleship. He was 
again charged with more confidence, and then, as 
if to sink to the lowest deep, replied in the long 
unused language of the fisherman, in oaths and 
curses, and thus reached the lowest deep of the 
abyss. 

Such are the successive steps of the backslider. 
In the graphic climax of the first Psalm, he first 
walks in the counsel of the ungodly, then stands 
in the way of sinners, and at last, sits in the seat 
of the scorner, and contentedly and boastingly 
takes his place with the blaspheming and the vile. 
The beginnings of backsliding are like the first 
movings of an avalanche. There is the silent 
dripping and wearing of long weeks, then, when 
the last point of resistance gives way, there is the 
loosing of a few stones, the rolling of a little earth, 
then a quivering of the whole mass, which trem- 
bles for a moment, then moves, then rushes and 
thunders in wild and desolating ruin into the 
abyss below. Thus is it with the successive stages 
of backsliding, as we see mournfully exemplified 
in the case of Peter. 

II. We see also the sorrows of the backslider in 
the case of Peter. 

These sorrows began with the shame that must 
have suffused his face, when he stooped to decep- 


THE PENITENT BACKSLIDER. 71 

tion and cowardice, after boasting so confidently, 
that though all men should forsake Christ, yet 
would not he. But they reached their depth of 
poignancy, when Christ looked at him, in the 
palace, and he went out and wept bitterly. There 
was in that look an impressive tenderness and 
power, that all the fury of the Jews, and the terror 
of that midnight scene of horror, could not exert 
on the mind of the apostle. It was as if the last 
drop of bitterness had been put into the cup of the 
suffering Saviour. He might have smitten the un- 
happy recreant to the earth, or uttered some re- 
proof of stern severity, but he does neither of these. 
When the last vehement denial was wrung from 
his quivering and ashy lips, it was as if a stab 
had reached the heart of Jesus, and he simply 
turned and looked at the unhappy man ; and there 
was in that sad and tearful look, so much of gentle 
pity, and yet so much of touching reproof, that it 
sank into the heart of the bewildered apostle, 
awaked him from his cowardly delusion, and 
caused him so to feel his base conduct that he 
rushed out to find some lonely spot where he 
might weep bitterly over his wrong. We know 
not what thoughts then thronged his mind; but 
doubtless the past came up in his memory, with 
all its sweet communings, its words of kindness, 
its deeds of love; Gennesaret, Tabor, Jerusalem, 
Bethany, Capernaum, Gethsemane. — all the love 


72 


THE THIRD APPEARANCE. 


that clustered around these scenes, came up with 
the anguished thought that it was this loving and 
faithful Saviour whom he deserted, denied, and 
insulted in the presence of his enemies. The 
future, also, with its dark uncertainties, its possi- 
ble horrors, and its certain sorrows, must have also 
arisen to mind, mingling fear with shame, and a 
dreading of judgment with the gnawing of re- 
morse. Whatever may have been his thoughts, 
we know that they were thoughts of unutterable 
sadness. 

Thus is it ever with the backslider. He may be 
insensible for a time, whilst the delusion is upon 
him, but there will always come a waking. Con- 
science will arise, like an angry prophet, and 
point to both past and future; drawing from each, 
visions of gloom and terror. The past, with its 
sweet memories of holy communings, of Sabbath 
joys, of sacramental gladness, of closet approach- 
ings to Grod, of social prayer, of the great congre- 
gation, and of all the “ precious hours” he once en- 
joyed, will come up in mournful contrast with 
the dark present; and from out of the midst of 
this picture, there will look upon him that sad, 
still face, that looked on Peter in the hall, uttering 
in its silent sorrow, a reproach more cutting than 
words can embody. Then rises up the future, so 
dark, so joyless, so threatening, a life of weariness, 
a death of gloom, an eternity of uncertainty so 


THE PENITENT BACKSLIDER. 73 

dread and terrible. And even if there be a hope 
of salvation, still it is a dim one, and almost joy- 
less. “ Oh ! I fear,” said a dying Christian, “ that 
my crown will be a starless one l” And in spite 
of all efforts to comfort her, she would still mourn- 
fully murmur, “A starless crown! a starless 
crown I” Such were some of the sorrows that 
Peter probably felt, that will come at last on the 
backslider. 

III. The restoration of the backsliding Peter . This 
restoration had at least three successive steps. 
The first was the look of Christ, whicjh produced 
^genuine penitence. The second was the message 
from the angels, (Mark xvi. 7,) sent through the 
women to him by name, which excited hope. 
The third was the actual appearance of our Lord 
to the penitent backslider, which raised him to 
the joy of an assured pardon and restored accept- 
ance. The first and second were necessary to the 
third, and had they been bootless, it had doubtless 
been withheld. 

Such is also the course of restoration in every 
case of backsliding. The first step is genuine 
penitence, a sense of the sin of wandering from 
God, and such a mourning over these desertions 
and denials, as David has expressed in that conse- 
crated song of contrition, the 51st Psalm. We 
must feel how bitter a thing it is to thus wander, 
how base a thing it is to thus desert one so true 
7 


74 


THE THIRD APPEARANCE. 


and tender to ns. And this penitence will be 
generated only by looking to Jesus. We must 
turn our eyes where Peter turned his, to the face 
of the divine Sufferer. Thus and thus only shall 
we obtain that godly sorrow, that worketh a re- 
pentance that need not be repented of. Then let 
the backslider look to Jesus for penitence. 

If this penitence is genuine, it will involve a 
return to the paths of obedience, and in these 
paths there will be found a message of hope. 
“Return unto me, ye backsliding children, and I 
will return unto you,” is found only in the paths 
of duty, and is a message of cheer to the returning 
wanderer. 

If the backslider returns thus to these paths of 
holy obedience, and continues to walk in them, 
“ looking unto Jesus,” then he may expect to have 
such a sight of a forgiving Saviour, and a recon- 
ciled God, as shall breathe into his heart the as- 
surance of hope. As Peter was met by Jesus, 
doubtless at a time and place that he looked not 
for him, and yet as undoubtedly in the discharge 
of duty, so will it be with every returning peni- 
tent. In an hour when he thinks not, the Saviour 
will reveal himself to him, and he will feel that 
his sins are forgiven, and his inheritance sure, 
through the blood of atonement. 

Then let the backslider look to Jesus, as Peter, 
and not from him, as Judas. Let him remember 


THE PENITENT BACKSLIDER. 


75 


that it is just this that makes the difference be- 
tween a genuine and a spurious repentance, be- 
tween the repentance of Peter, the backslider, and 
that of Judas, the apostate. 


76 


THE FOURTH APPEARANCE. 


CHAPTER VII. 

THE FOURTH APPEARANCE. — THE PERPLEXED 
DOUBTERS. 

The gradation. I. The circumstances. The sad disciples — The love 
of Jesus — The sin of unbelief — The Key of the Old Testament — 
The burning of heart — Christ made known in breaking of bread. 
II. The lessons to the doubter. (1) Honest doubts in regard to the 
divine origin of Christianity — “ It speaks to my heart.” (2) Doubts 
concerning doctrines. (3) Doubts in regard to personal experience. 
(4) Doubts in regard to the providential dealings of God — “Abide 
with us.” 

Abide with me ! Fast falls the eventide ; 

The darkness thickens : Lord! with me abide; 

When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, 

Help of the helpless, Oh ! abide with me ! 

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day; 

Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away ; 

Change and decay in all around I see : 

0 thou, who changest not, abide with me 1 

Reveal thyself before my closing eyes. 

Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies : 

Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee; 

In life, in death, 0 Lord ! abide with me. 

“And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering, said 
unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known 
the things which are come to pass there in these days ? And he said 
unto them, What things ? And they said unto him. Concerning Jesus 
of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before 
God and all the people ; and how the chief priests and our rulers do- 


THE PERPLEXED DOUBTERS. 


77 


livered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But 
we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel : 
and besides all this, to-day is the third day since these things were 
done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us aston- 
ished, which were early at the sepulchre : and when they found not 
his body, they came, saying, That they also had seen a vision of 
angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which 
were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the 
women had said ; but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, 0 
fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken ! 
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his 
glory ? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded 
unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And 
they drew nigh unto the village whither they went : and he made as 
though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, say- 
ing, Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. 
And he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he sat 
at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and 
gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him ; and 
he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did 
not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, 
and while he opened to us the scriptures? And they rose up the 
same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered 
together, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen 
indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things 
were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking 
of bread. — Luke xxiv. 18 — 35. 

We again see that gradation before noted in 
the appearances of our Lord, after his resurrec- 
tion. The first, to Mary Magdalene, was a tribute 
to love ; the second, to the women, a reward of 
obedience; the third, to Peter, an approval of 
penitence; whilst the fourth, to the troubled men 
of Emmaus, was a condescension to the perplexity 
of an honest doubter. Each one, therefore, had 

7 * 


78 


THE FOURTH APPEARANCE. 


its special significance, and the order of the ap- 
pearances is precisely the order of excellence in 
the states of mind thus signalized. First, stands 
love; second, obedience; third, penitence; and 
fourth, doubt, with an honest desire for light, 
which deserves a removal of its darkness and per- 
plexity. 

There are two points that present themselves 
here ; first, the circumstances of this appearance / 
second, its lessons to the doubter . 

I. The circumstances of this appearance. 

There were two disciples of Christ, who lived 
at Emmaus, a small village about seven miles from 
Jerusalem, whose precise position is now unknown. 
They were present, it would seem, during the 
passover, the arrest, the crucifixion, and the scat- 
tering of the disciples. They knew that the body 
was buried on Friday evening, and guarded in its 
grave during the Sabbath. That Sabbath was 
spent in anxious doubts. They could not believe 
Jesus to be a deceiver, and yet they could not re- 
concile the overwhelming difficulties that attended 
the doctrine that he was the Christ. The morning 
of the first day of the week found them still 
doubting. As the day wore on, there were whis- 
perings that Christ had risen and appeared to the 
women, but as they were doubtless afraid to be 
seen on the streets, whilst the city was so much 
excited, it was impossible to verify these reports, 


THE PERPLEXED DOUBTERS. 79 

and they regarded them as mere baseless rumours. 
At last they concluded to return home, perplexed 
not less by these reports, than by the facts that 
had previously occurred. As they left the city, 
and saw its towers sink behind the hills, it was 
doubtless with deep dejection, as they remembered 
with what different feelings they had greeted those 
towers a few days before. But as they slowly 
threaded the winding path that led to their village, 
they naturally talked of the subject nearest their 
heart, and their words were words of sadness. As 
they thus traversed the hills, they were joined by 
a stranger, who saluted them with the kindly 
query, “What manner of communications are 
these that ye have one to another, as ye walk and 
are sad ?” 

Knowing as we do, who this stranger was, there 
is something very beautiful and impressive in this 
interview. Had we been left to conjecture to 
whom the next appearance would have been 
granted, we would probably have said Joseph, 
JSTicodemus, or at least the beloved John. But 
not to them did he appear ; not to the titled and 
lordly in Jerusalem ; not to the eleven ; not even 
to those who should afterwards be noted in the 
history of the church, for one is nameless, and of 
the other we know but his name. He appeared 
to humble and lowly men, as if to teach us the 
precious lesson that none were too poor or un- 


80 


THE FOURTH APPEARANCE. 


known to be beneath the notice of the Saviour. 
We know from his own words that he is ready to 
leave the ninety and nine, and bring back the 
wanderer from the flock in the wilderness, but we 
see it expressed as words cannot utter it, when he 
leaves the rich and the great, and even the loved in 
Jerusalem, on the very first day of his resurrec- 
tion, and goes after these two unknown men, to 
solve their doubts and to lead them to himself. 

The reply that they gave to his sympathizing 
question explained their sadness. “ Art thou only 
a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the 
things which are come to pass there in these 
days ?” “And he said unto them, What things ?” 
Here again we have a striking and characteristic 
fact. Jesus knew the cause of their sadness more 
deeply than they knew it themselves. Yet he re- 
quired them to declare it. Thus is it still. He 
knows what our hearts need, long before our lips 
utter the words of prayer, but he would have the 
utterance made, for only by making that utterance 
is the heart opened fully to the reception of the 
blessing. Prayer opens the heart of man, as well 
as the hand of God, and that heart must be opened, 
or the blessing will not enter it from the opened 
hand. 

When Christ thus drew forth their thoughts, 
we find the doubts that they had been cherishing. 
“We trusted that it had been he that should have 


THE PERPLEXED DOUBTERS. 81 

delivered Israel .” This is the tone of a heart that 
has lost its first love, and thus lost its first faith, 
and finds itself in the dark. There was the chilling 
doubt that all this hope of deliverance through 
Jesus was perhaps but a dream or delusion. 

It was then that the indignation of Jesus flamed 
out in the stern rebuke, “0 fools, and slow of 
heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken !” 
This sudden change of tone seems strange, until 
we recollect that unbelief is an insult to Jesus 
of the keenest character, and must so be felt. 
When a man doubts our word, we feel a glow of 
anger at the insult, and yet we sometimes wonder 
that doubting God’s word should be regarded by 
him with so much condemnation. Unbelief is 
simply making God a liar, and therefore is well 
made to be the damning sin. Hence it was that 
Jesus thus rebuked it, for it had in them, as it al- 
ways has in others, its origin, not in swiftness of 
head, but in slowness of heart, not in the sharp- 
ness and intelligence of the intellect, but in the 
dulness and sinfulness of the affections. 

But he did not confine himself to mere rebuke. 
He also instructed them. “Beginning at Moses 
and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in 
all the scriptures, the things concerning himself.” 
What this wondrous exposition was, we know 
not ; but we know the theme that called it forth, 
and that from Paradise in the past, to Paradise in 


82 


THE FOURTH APPEARANCE. 


the future, from types and shadows, sacrifices 
and ceremonies, prophecies in words, and prophe- 
cies in act, there came out, ray by ray, a blazing 
circle of proof that “Christ ought to have suf- 
fered these things, and then entered into his glory.” 
Thus the Old Testament was made to gather into 
one vast and glorious picture, the centre of which 
was the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins 
of the world. We thus reach the heart of all 
theology, and the soul of all true exposition, the 
key to all history, and the significance of all pro- 
phecy, namely, a suffering Saviour, a vicarious 
atonement, a Lamb slain on the altar, on the cross, 
and in the throne. 

They at length reached Emmaus, as the day 
was fading away over the hills of Moab, and we 
see again a characteristic act of Jesus. He made 
as though he would go farther, for he will not be 
an unwelcomed guest in any heart. Had they al- 
lowed him to depart, they might have long re- 
mained in doubt. But they urged him to tarry 
with them, and as they made him partaker of their 
humble cheer, he did wondrously before their eyes. 
He took bread, and blessing it, as he did in the 
upper chamber, he brake and gave it to them, and 
suddenly their eyes were opened, and as has so 
often been true since, he was “made known to them 
in the breaking of bread,” Having thus solved all 
their doubt, and filled their hearts with joy, he 


THE PERPLEXED DOUBTERS. 83 

vanished out of their sight. They then said to 
each other, “ How strange that we did not know 
this sooner ! how strange that we could not see 
that, as our hearts burned within us, as he talked 
and walked with us, none other could thus kindle 
our hearts but Jesus!” Then unable to keep 
this glad news to themselves, night though it 
was, they arose and returned to Jerusalem, to tell 
the eleven that they had seen the Lord, and had 
him made known in the breaking of bread. Such 
were the circumstances under which Jesus re- • 
moved the perplexities of these doubters, and 
they have given us a test that may be applied to 
many other cases of doubting. 

II. We therefore look at the lessons that are 
taught us in regard to the doubting. 

The most important lesson that we learn is 
furnished by the statement of the doubters them- 
selves in the words, “ Did not our hearts burn 
within us, while he talked with us by the way, 
and while he opened to us the scriptures!” We 
have here a test given us that we may apply to 
various cases of doubting. These men felt their 
hearts burn within them whilst Christ talked 
with them, though they knew not then the sig- 
nificance of this glow of the soul. They after- 
wards discovered that this burning of the heart 
was the token of that holy Presence, a fact which 
they ought to have inferred before. Hence, if we 


84 : 


THE FOURTH APPEARANCE. 


can find this burning of heart in the doubting 
soul, we have at once a test by which to judge of 
these doubts, and a means of their removal. Let 
us apply the test to several classes of doubts. 

1. Honest doubts in regard to the divine origin of 
Christianity. How shall such doubts be met? 
There are two courses, either of which may be 
adopted. We confront the doubter with the stu- 
pendous mass of the external evidence of Chris- 
tianity. We may show him the mighty ramparts 
• that eighteen hundred years have reared around 
the fountain that is unsealed beneath the cross, 
and show that these towers and battlements must 
rest on the Everlasting Rock, from which this 
living water flows. All this is well, but to the 
majority of men is impossible. A shorter and 
better way is to take the doubter within, and lead 
him to the fountain itself, thirsty, faint, and fevered 
with sin ; and there, as he drinks of its cooling 
waters, and finds his thirst assuaged, and his fever 
cooled, he will need no other evidence than this 
inward experience that it is, in very deed, the 
water of life. Then as surely as he knows that 
light was made for the eye, water for the appetite 
of thirst, and food for that of hunger, does he 
know that the gospel was made by God for the 
heart of man. 

Let the honest doubter take the Bible, and with 
a sincere and prayerful heart peruse it. He shall 


THE PERPLEXED DOUBTERS. 85 

find it to lay bare bis heart, as it was never laid 
bare before. It interprets the soul’s secret motives, 
explains its vague yearnings, reconciles its seem- 
ing contradictions, and in its teachings concerning 
sin, and the fall, gives a satisfactory explanation 
of the strange facts of the human heart. In its 
doctrine of redemption, through a suffering and 
yet divine Saviour, it meets the hopes and fears 
of the spirit, as nothing else can do, and exerts a 
power over the heart that no other book has ever 
exerted. This wonderful adaptation to the facts 
of the human soul, proves that it came from the 
same hand with that soul itself. 

This is after all the highest kind of evidence, for 
it is simply God shining on his own work. It is 
also adapted to the humblest and poorest. When 
Gilbert Tennent was travelling in Virginia, he 
visited a very aged negro man, who had for many 
years been a Christian, and plied him with the 
usual objections to the . Bible. “ How do you 
know that the Bible is the word of God, when you 
cannot read it ?” The reply was as simple as it 
was conclusive : “I know the Bible to be God’s 
word, because it speaks to my heart.” The rea- 
son was as cogent as it was simple. The Bible 
speaks to the heart as no other book does. It 
makes it to glow first with penitence, then with 
faith, then with love, and then with the ripe fruits 
of the Spirit, as no other book does, and as no 
8 


86 THE FOURTH APPEARANCE. 

book could do, that came not from that divine 
hand, which created the heart. Hence as the heart 
glows and burns under the words of this holy 
book, we may know that it is because the divine 
word is thus speaking to the heart, and that there- 
fore their doubts are all fallacious, and the Bible 
is of God. 

2. Doubts concerning doctrines. These men of 
Emmaus were in doubt concerning the doctrine of 
a suffering Messiah. Such doubts have not yet 
ceased. Men are often in doubt in regard to the 
doctrines of the Trinity, the Atonement, Regener- 
ation, and similar deep doctrines of revelation, 
because of certain difficulties that seem to en- 
viron them. How shall these doubts be removed ? 
Precisely as those of the men of Emmaus. Take 
the Scriptures, and beginning at Moses and the 
prophets, listen to the voice that speaks through 
them ; study the passages that seem to bear on 
these points, and let the .light in upon the heart; 
and the heart will be found to burn as it grasps 
these high and glorious teachings concerning man, 
the great sinner, and Christ, the great Saviour. 
The heart that feels duly its sin and helplessness, 
will glow with exulting hope, at the revelation of 
a divine Redeemer, a Saviour who has borne our 
sins in his own body and suffered as our substi- 
tute ; a Holy Spirit who will create within us a 
new heart, and an unchanging love, that will en- 


THE PERPLEXED DOUBTERS. 87 

fold us to the end. Then it will be found that the 
Bible is infinitely more than a book of ethics, and 
Christianity infinitely more than a moral system. 
It will be seen that Christianity is a new life, the 
life of Christ in the soul of a believer, and the 
Bible the inspired record of this great salvation. 
On this record we are simply to rest in faith, and 
in doing this we shall find our hearts to burn 
within us, as we are brought into living connec- 
tion with the warm, throbbing heart of a loving 
Saviour, in his word and work of grace. 

3. Doubts in regard to personal experience . 
The number of Christians who are in doubt con- 
cerning the validity of their hopes is wonder- 
fully great, especially among those whose bodily 
health is infirm. A test that may solve these 
doubts in many cases, is furnished by this scene. 
We do not ask whether you are sure that you 
have been born again, whether your hope is cloud- 
less or your faith developed to assurance, but 
simply, has not your heart burned within you as 
you read the Bible, sat in God’s house, approached 
the Lord’s table, bowed in your closet, or met in 
the prayer meeting? And has not that burning 
of heart been of penitence and shame for sin, of 
fervent gratitude for the love of Christ, of deep 
longing for a larger measure of holiness, and of 
glowing zeal for the advancement of Christ’s cause? 
Now whence this burning of heart ? Who or 


88 


THE FOURTH APPEARANCE. 


what could have caused it ? Could any presence 
but that of Jesus, any words but his have pro- 
duced a glow like this ? True, you do not see 
Christ as your Saviour ; but if you have this holy 
burning of heart as you dwell on the words of 
Jesus, you may believe that he walks beside you, 
though your eyes are holden so that they cannot 
see him, and you may hope that ere long he will 
be made known to you, perhaps, “in the breaking 
of bread.” “ Who is among you that feareth the 
Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that 
walketh in darkness, and hath no light ? let him 
trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his 
God,” Isa. 1. 10. 

4. Doubts in regard to the Providential dealings 
of God. We often speak of mysterious provi- 
dences, when affliction comes upon us, as if it were 
mysterious that God should do as he has promised 
to do, and as he has always done to his people. 
We walk like the bereaved men of Emmaus, and 
are sad. We think, why was I singled out for 
such sorrow ? Why have others been spared such 
trials, whilst I have been called to endure them ? 
Life thus becomes to us a pathway of sorrow, and 
we walk and are sad. 

Then could our eyes be opened, we would see 
beside us one who walks unseen by eyes so 
dimmed with tears, and his words to us might be, 
“ O slow of heart to believe all that is written in 


THE PERPLEXED DOUBTERS. 89 

Moses and the prophets, concerning me and con- 
cerning you? Ought not Christ’s people to suffer 
such things and then to enter into glory ? If the 
Captain of your salvation was made perfect through 
sufferings, must not you attain perfection by the 
same path ?” Thus as we begin with the suffering 
Abel, and come on down through the long cloud 
of witnesses, until we reach the “ great multitude, 
which no man could number, of all nations and 
kindreds, and people and tongues,” “who have 
come out of great tribulation, and washed their 
robes, and made them white in the blood of the 
Lamb,” we shall feel our hearts begin to burn 
within us, and be ready to say, not only, “the 
Lord’s will be done,” but even, “I glory in tribu- 
lation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, 
and patience, experience, and experience, hope,” 
and that hope will not make us ashamed. Then 
if the day grows dark to us, and shadows of sor- 
row or of death begin to fall, let us beseech the 
Master to “abide with us,” and soon we shall 
arise and go, not to the little company in the 
earthly Jerusalem, but to that innumerable com- 
pany that is found in the heavenly Jerusalem, 
where there is no night for ever. 

8 * 


90 


THE FIFTH APPEARANCE. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

THE FIFTH APPEARANCE. — THE LORD’S DAY 
EVENING. 

The circumstances of this meeting — The physical properties of 
Christ’s risen body. I. Inauguration of the Lord's day — The Lord’s 
day, the Christian Sabbath — Its beautiful significance. II. The 
blessings connected with the Lord's day, by the words of Jesus. (1) 
Fears relieved. Why do we dread a spirit ? — “Peace.” (2) Faith 
confirmed — Evidence of the resurrection — Transubstantiation. (3) 
Light cast on the objects of hope — The same body that dies, rises 
— The physical properties of the risen body — Recognition in heaven. 
(4) Errors corrected. (5) The Holy Ghost given. (6) Apostolic 
power. III. Thomas absent — Why ? — What he missed — Missing at 
the last. 

“ Thine earthly Sabbaths, Lord, we love, 

But there’s a nobler rest above ; 

To that our longing souls aspire, 

With ardent love, and strong desire.” 

“ Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, 
when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear 
of the Jews, came Jesus aud stood in the midst, and saith unto them, 
Peace be unto you.” — John xx. 19. 

“But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with 
them when Jesus came.” — John xx. 24. 

It is a fact worthy of notice, that of the re- 
corded appearances of our Lord, one half of them 
took place on the day of his resurrection. We 
have seen that each appearance had its own spe- 


THE LOED’S DAY EVENING. 91 

cial significance. The one before us is in some 
respects more significant than any of the others, 
for it has a more solemn and official character. 
It is the first appearance of our Lord to the apos- 
tles as a body, and his first formal inauguration 
of any of the peculiar facts of the New Testament 
dispensation. Its grand significance is its formal 
inauguration of the Lord’s day, as the Christian 
Sabbath, by his official meeting with the dis- 
ciples for worship, his bestowal of Sabbatic bless- 
ings on that occasion, and his introduction thus 
of the great facts in the new dispensation, of which 
the day of holy rest was at once a type, and a 
channel of transmission. 

This meeting is recorded by the evangelists, 
Mark, Luke, and John, in terms which, though 
varying, are not contradictory. The record of 
Mark is very brief, being but a single verse. 
“Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they 
sat at meat, and upbraided them with their un- 
belief and hardness of heart, because they be- 
lieved not them which had seen him after he was 
risen,” Mark xvi. 14. Luke records it more at 
length, ch. xxiv. 36 — 49, and seems to include the 
apostolic commission, which was given more form- 
ally afterwards on Olivet, but which was substan- 
tially given at that time. Both Mark and Luke 
have so much condensed their accounts of the 
forty days, that it is impossible to refer each 


92 


THE FIFTH APPEARANCE. 


phrase to its exact chronological place. Some of 
the words spoken on Olivet may be combined 
with those spoken on the Lord’s day evening, as 
all the sayings of our Lord are thrown by Luke 
into a continuous discourse. Hence we need not 
anxiously discriminate between what was uttered 
the first day, and what was uttered the last. The 
gospel of John gives the sayings and doings of 
these days with more detail than either of the 
others, but gives no fact that contradicts their ac- 
counts. It states that the substance of the apos- 
tolic commission was pronounced by our Lord on 
that evening, though the formal bestowal of it 
was on Olivet. Hence we shall notice at present 
only such statements as seem to have been made 
on that evening, designed rather as an official in- 
auguration of the Lord’s day, than as an official 
investiture of the apostles. 

The disciples had met in the evening with min- 
gled emotions. Doubt, hope, joy, and fear were 
struggling for the mastery. But when Peter came 
and told them that Jesus had appeared to him, all 
doubt was then gone as to the fact of his resurrec- 
tion. Many doubts might arise as to various 
matters connected with it, but the fact itself was 
then established. Whilst they pondered Peter’s 
statement, a hurried knocking announced Cleopas 
and his friend from Emmaus, who related their 
wonderful walk. As they listened to this narra- 


THE LORD’S DAY EVENING. &S 

tion, there suddenly appeared to their astonished 
eyes the form of Jesus himself, who greeted them 
with the words of affectionate benediction, “ Peace 
be unto you.” 

A question here arises as to the manner in 
which Jesus entered the room, which has some im- 
portance. It is, whether he entered it supernatu- 
rally, without opening the doors, or naturally, as 
the disciples did. Many of the expositors allege 
that he entered it by opening the door, as the dis- 
ciples did, and that there was nothing supernatural 
in the case. But the statements of the evangelists 
seem to favour the other opinion. It is expressly 
said that “ the doors were closed for fear of the 
Jews,” and of course fastened, and that in spite of 
this fastening, he suddenly appeared in the midst 
of them, implying that the doors were not opened. 
Luke also states that they were affrighted, suppos- 
ing that they saw a spirit. Now as they already 
knew that he was risen from the dead, there must 
have been something phantom-like in his mode of 
entrance, which would not have been the case had 
he come in at the door like the disciples. The 
fact that the two men of Emmaus did not know 
him, and that when known he vanished out of their 
sight, shows that there was something peculiar in 
the mode of his existence. This is still further 
corroborated by the fact that he is always said to 
have “ appeared,” “ to have showed himself,” &e., 


94 


THE FIFTH APPEAKANCE. 


to his disciples, as if visibility and the ordinary 
properties of a body were assumed by him at will, 
and did not belong to his body in the same way 
after the resurrection as before it. We would not 
dogmatize on a doubtful point, but these facts seem 
to indicate, that the resurrection-body of our Lord 
possessed material properties very different from 
its former condition, that it was naturally invisi- 
ble and intangible, though material, and became 
visible and tangible as before, only by a posi- 
tive volition. This condition of matter is not 
only not impossible, but is very conceivable, with 
the knowledge we have now of the various forms 
in which matter is found to exist. If our conjec- 
ture is correct, we have some light thrown on the 
physical nature of the resurrection-body of be- 
lievers, the “ spiritual body,” of which Paul speaks 
in 1 Cor. xv. 44. It shall be material, and yet 
with properties that we have hitherto attributed 
to spirit, rather than matter, though erroneously ; 
because we now know that there are forms of 
matter that are neither visible, tangible, nor limit- 
able, in the ordinary sense of these terms. This 
question then becomes one of some interest, in 
view of its connection with these great problems 
and facts of our future life. 

There are three facts that present themselves in 
this interview. I. The inauguration of the Lord's 
day. II. The blessings connected with it by the words 
of Jesus. III. The absence of Thomas . 


THE LORDS DAY EVENING. 95 

I. The inauguration of the Lord ’ s day. 

This was the first Christian Sabbath. It is a 
significant fact, that one half of the recorded ap- 
pearances of our Lord took place on this day, 
thus bestowing upon it a special honour, which 
this fact of its being the Christian Sabbath will 
tend to explain. But as the first four of these ap- 
pearances were to individuals, it is in the fifth ap- 
pearance that we find the special significance. The 
disciples were met for worship. It was their first 
meeting doubtless after the resurrection, and the 
significant fact is, that it was at that meeting that 
he made his first appearance to them collectively. 
As soon as they met for worship, he met with 
them, thus hallowing the day as a day of worship. 
He gave them on that day the evidence of his re- 
surrection, as a great fact to be transmitted to all 
nations, thus ordaining the day itself as a memo- 
rial of this resurrection. He assured them of their 
apostolic authority, and gave them the Holy Ghost 
in part, thus linking the great blessings of the 
Hew Testament with this day. The facts, that the 
next meeting of Christ with them was on this first 
day of the week, that it was observed as a day 
of worship afterwards, that John mentions it as 
the day on which he was in the Spirit, as if it 
were the regular day of worship, and the day 
when the blessings of the Spirit were given, and 
that the primitive church adopted it with such 


96 


THE FIFTH APPEARANCE. 


unanimity as the day of Sabbatic privilege and 
duty, prove that our Lord designed this day to be 
the Christian Sabbath. 

The Lord’s day is therefore the memorial day 
of the resurrection of Christ. It comes to us, not 
merely as a memorial of the rest that was lost in 
the past, but also as a pledge and foretaste of the 
rest that has been purchased and provided in the 
future. It comes to us like a portion of the risen 
life of Jesus, to tell us of that better life that 
awaits those who are found in him. It bids the 
rush of commerce, the din of trade, and the eager 
chase of life to pause ; it closes the doors of the 
shop, the manufactory, and the warehouse, and 
wiping the dust from the brow of the soiled 
artizan, it lifts from the weary frame of man and 
beast the burden of the primeval curse, and thus 
assures us that there comes a time when this 
Curse shall be taken away entirely, and we shall 
enter upon the rest that remaineth for the people 
of God. It opens the house of God, and fills the 
air with the sweet melodies of Sabbath bells and 
Sabbath hymns ; it unfolds to us from the sacred 
desk the glorious hopes of the future, thus letting 
down weekly an episode of heaven into our 
earthly life, fitting us for the duties of the one by 
the hopes of the other. It is thus a blessed frag- 
ment of the resurrection life of our Lord, designed 
to keep alive the memory of that great fact in the 


THE LORD’S DAY EVENING. 


97 


past, and the hope of those great facts in the 
future, with which it is connected, and comes to 
us, just as our Lord came to his disciples, with the 
sweet greeting, Peace be unto you. And it is a 
sad thing that when this day is thus let down like 
a sheet, pure and clean from heaven, filled with 
angels’ food, that men should, in their brutal 
blindness, trample it under foot as an unholy 
thing, and make the day that lifts up the curse 
from our heads to fall back upon them in a 
heavier curse by its wicked violation. 

II. Blessings connected with the Lord's day , by the 
words of Jesus. 

1. Fears relieved. It is a striking proof of a 
consciousness of sin, that men always tremble be- 
fore what seems to be a disembodied spirit. Were 
they conscious of innocence, they need not dread 
a messenger from the unseen world, but might 
rather welcome one with delight. Why is it 
otherwise ? Why do they shiver with dread ? 
Why does the hair of Eliphaz’s flesh rise with 
terror, and the knees of Belshazzar smite to- 
gether, at the sight of a phantom ? Is it not be- 
cause the feeling of guilt suggests, anterior to the 
utterance of a word, that any message from the 
unseen world to us, must be a message of wrath ? 
Is it not a consciousness of sin, anticipating that 
punishment that is felt to be deserved ? 

Thus it was with the disciples when they saw 
9 


98 


THE FIFTH APPEARANCE. 


suddenly before them what seemed to be a spectre, 
so strangely and silently did it appear. They 
were affrighted. The words of Jesus were the 
very words that they needed to quell their fears, 
“Peace be unto you.” He assured them that peace 
was made with God, that the burden of guilt had 
been borne by him, that he had now returned 
from the eternal throne with a message of mercy 
and peace to their souls. Hence he linked with 
the Lord’s day the proclamation of peace to the 
guilty conscience, pardon to the penitent sinner, 
and salvation to the uttermost of all that come to 
God by him. This day that the Lord hath made, 
therefore, still comes to us with messages of grace, 
and speaks peace to the guilty conscience, through 
the blood of Christ, and thus relieves its fears. 

2. Faith confirmed. Fear can only be removed 
by confirming faith. Hence, after he had assured 
them that they need not fear, he gave them the 
grounds of this assurance by establishing their 
faith on a sure basis of evidence. “And he said 
unto them, Why are ye troubled ? and why do 
thoughts arise in your hearts ? Behold my hands 
and my feet, that it is I myself ; handle me and 
see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see 
me have. And when he had thus spoken, he 
shewed them his hands and his feet,” Luke xxiv. 
38-40. Mark states “ that he upbraided them with 
their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they 


THE LORD’S DAY EVENING. 


99 


believed not them which had seen him after he 
was risen,” Mark xvi. 14. Luke adds, that to con- 
firm their faith he called for food, and ate before 
them a piece of broiled fish and a honey-comb, 
eh. xxiv. 41-43. 

Hence our Lord gave them full evidence to con- 
firm their faith. They were to be the authorized 
witnesses of his resurrection, and needed ample 
confirmation of it themselves. This he gave 
them by appealing to their senses of sight, 
by looking ; of touch, by handling, and of hear- 
ing, by his words. 

It is a remarkable fact that the very evidence that 
Rome refuses to admit in regard to “ the body and 
blood” of Christ, the evidence of the senses, is 
the precise evidence to which he appealed on this 
occasion, in giving them the great fundamental 
fact of the Christian dispensation. He thus laid 
a sure foundation for their own faith in that fact, of 
which they were to be witnesses to all nations, the 
fact that he was risen from the dead, and thus de- 
clared to be the Son of God and the Saviour of 
the world, with power, Rom. i. 4. 

3. Light cast on the objects of hope. The great 
questions of this life are those that relate to the 
life to come. Among the most important of these 
is that of the resurrection of the body. Shall it 
rise ? If so, how ? Light is cast on these ques- 
tions by the appearance of Christ and his challenge, 


100 


THE FIFTH APPEARANCE. 


“ Handle me and see, for a spirit bath not flesh and 
bones, as ye see me have.” Several facts in regard 
to this great doctrine are thus established. 

First, that the same body which went into the 
grave shall come out of it at the resurrection. In 
what respect it shall be the same, how far identity 
of particles is necessary to constitute identity of 
body, we know not. But as the same body that 
was buried arose in the case of Jesus, so will it 
be with all in the resurrection. Were it other- 
wise, it would not be a resurrection, a rising again, 
for this implies that what rises had been laid down. 
It would be a creation and not a rising again. All 
questions in regard to the possibility of this 
rising of the same body, are idle, for they are 
questions as to the power of Omnipotence, where 
confessedly there is no moral or even physical im- 
possibility, but only certain difficulties. In the 
resurrection of Christ, the same body that died 
rose again, and so will it be with all. 

Secondly, that resurrection-body shall not have 
the same relations to matter, space, &c., that the 
present body has. W e have already seen that the 
risen body of Christ was probably in its nature 
invisible, capable of passing from place to place 
without feeling the restrictions of doors, walls, and 
material barriers, as other bodies do; and yet 
really a body of flesh, blood, and bones, in a 
real and true sense. So we learn that the resur- 


THE LORD’S DAY EVENING. 101 

rection-body of the redeemed, whilst it will be 
material, will not be subject to the laws of matter 
as it is now, but like to that glorious body of 
Christ, that was visible or invisible at pleasure, 
and able to pass from place to place, and even 
from world to world, without effort or limitation, 
such as now chains us to the surface of the earth 
and the limits of the atmosphere. 

Thirdly, that recognition will be possible in 
heaven. Christ appealed to the fact that they 
could recognize him as the same being who died 
on the cross. If then he could be recognized in 
his resurrection-body, we may infer that this re- 
cognition will be possible in other cases, and 
therefore that we shall know our friends in 
heaven. 

4. Errors corrected. “As my Father hath sent 
me, even so send I you.” As the word apostle 
means literally, one sent , these words intimate a 
renewal of their apostolic office. But they also 
intimate a correction of their errors in regard to 
the office itself. They thought that this office, as 
well as the kingdom with which it was connected, 
was to be a temporal and political power, with 
Christ as its visible head. This error he corrects 
in these words : “I am not to stay with you, as 
you suppose, but to leave you, and to send you 
forth as my representatives in the world, to finish 
the spiritual work that I have begun, and to raise 


102 


THE FIFTH APPEARANCE. 


man from his degradation and sin.” Hence we 
have the great fact that ministers go forth in 
Christ’s stead, as his ambassadors, to finish the 
work for which he came into the world, from the 
Father. 

5. The Roly Ghost given. He breathed on them 
and said, “ Eeceive ye the Holy Ghost.” The four 
emblems of the Spirit, most common in scripture, 
are, the dove, with its gentleness and love ; fire, 
with its fervour and consuming power ; water, 
with its purifying action ; and air, the vehicle of 
life, the agent that brings light to the eye, sound 
to the ear, fragrance to the nostril, and vitality to 
the lungs, and thus is the great life-bearer of our 
earth. Hence in breathing upon them, he pre- 
sented the Holy Ghost under this expressive sym- 
bol, as the source of their life and strength, and 
said to them in effect, that as breath to the body, 
so was the Holy Ghost to the soul, the ever need- 
ful source of all spiritual vitality. He also de- 
clared to them that this divine person was sent by 
him as well as by the Father, was the Spirit of 
Christ as well as of God, and the great blessing 
of the New Testament dispensation. 

It is true that the Holy Ghost, in its plenary 
bestowal, was not given until the day of pentecost, 
and could not be given until after the ascension. 
Hence the words “ receive ye,” are to be under- 
stood mainly in the same sense with the words, 


THE LORD S DAY EVENING. 


103 


“so send I you.” . The sending was really not 
until after pentecost, and so also was the receiving 
of the Spirit. But as there was an official right to 
this future sending them actually given, so there 
was an official right to this future receiving, and 
also, we doubt not, an actual bestowal of the Holy 
Ghost, to such an extent as to be a pledge and 
promise of the future bestowal. 

6. Their official power. “ Whosesoever sins ye 
remit, they are remitted unto them, and whoseso- 
ever sins ye retain, they are retained.” 

This is that power to open and shut the king- 
dom of heaven, commonly called the power of 
the keys. It is not a judicial but a declarative 
power ; not a power to acquit or condemn, as 
judges, but to declare, as ambassadors, the grounds 
of acquittal and condemnation. As connected 
with their extraordinary powers, it was a grant of 
authority to teach infallibly the grounds of par- 
don and condemnation, and to organize on these 
declared grounds a visible church. Hence it con- 
tained a grant of the powers of doctrine and dis- 
cipline in the church, — to the apostles as extraor- 
dinary officers, in an extraordinary sense, and to 
those who succeed them, as ordinary ministers, 
these powers in an ordinary sense. They were to 
remit sins as the priest cleansed the leper, not ac- 
tually, but declaratively, by stating infallibly, un- 
der the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, the terms 


104 


THE FIFTH APPEARANCE. 


of pardon, and tlie terms of church fellowship. 
At the same time, Luke informs us, “ that he 
opened their understandings to understand the 
scriptures,” which is but another form of the 
power of doctrine, the ability to declare with au- 
thority, as inspired men the will of God for our 
salvation. 

Such were some of the blessings linked with 
the Lord’s day ; blessings, all of which, in some 
form, are still connected with it, as the day of 
worship, the day of rest, and the day of instruc- 
tion. 

III. Thomas absent. 

Why he was absent, we are not told. Perhaps he 
was sick, or engaged in some work of mercy ; per- 
haps he thought this meeting for prayer useless, or 
uninteresting, that he could pray at home, or learn 
more there than he could at the meeting ; perhaps 
he disliked night meetings ; or perhaps he lived at 
some distance from the place of meeting; the night 
might have been cloudy, threatening rain, or the 
streets muddy and dark. Such reasons are very 
widely operative now, and might have been then. 

But whatever was the reason, the fact is not 
stated to his honour. The implication is that his 
absence was caused by his unbelief, and that thus 
his unbelief continued. He missed the meeting 
with Jesus, and the peace, faith, hope, and joy that 
were connected with it. He remained in darkness 


THE LORD’S DAY EVENING. 


105 


for another week, and doubtless in sorrow, for 
unbelief is but another name for unhappiness. 

And is it not so still ? Do not the missing dis- 
ciples at the meeting for prayer often miss pre- 
cious visits of Jesus ? Is not the cause of absence 
also often the same ? Is it not at last unbelief ? 
Is it not that we do not believe in the value of 
these ordinances, or have no heart to attend them ? 

Let us then beware of such a record about us in 
the books, as we have here about Thomas, that 
“ he was not with them when Jesus came.” Let us 
be with the friends of Jesus now, in work and in 
worship, lest when he comes again, in that last, 
great day of his coming, the world’s great evening 
and end, it may also be recorded of us, that when 
he gathers his saints together there, we are not 
with them, but cast out into the outer darkness. 
Let Jesus, when he visits his people met for 
prayer, find us among them. 


106 


THE SIXTH APPEARANCE. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE SIXTH APPEARANCE. — THE SCEPTICAL DISCIPLE. 

The second Lord’s day — The dark disciple. I. The causes of the 
scepticism of Thomas. (1) The original structure of his nature — 
Living in the shadow — (2) A wrong standard of belief. — The 
credulity of unbelief — (3) Absence from the meeting of the disci- 
ples — God honours his appointed means. II. The consequence of 
his unbelief. Wretchedness of soul — The sceptic wretched whe- 
ther right or wrong. III. The removal of his scepticism. (1.) 
The awakening of his faith by a sight of Christ — (2) The confes- 
sion of his faith — Did he blaspheme ? — (3) The personal character 
of his faith — (4) The benediction of Jesus — Goethe. 

I heard the voice of Jesus say, 

Come unto me and rest; 

Lay down, thou weary one, lay down 
Thy head upon my breast. 

I came to Jesus as I was, 

Weary, and worn, and sad, 

I found in him a resting place. 

And he has made me glad. 

“And after eight days, again his disciples were within and Thom- 
as with them ; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in 
the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, 
Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy 
hand, and thrust it into my side ; and be not faithless but believing. 
And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God^ 
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast 
believed : blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” 
J ohn xx. 26—29. 

This meeting was a second observance of the 


THE SCEPTICAL DISCIPLE. 


107 


Christian Sabbath. It was the evening of the 
Lord’s day, i. e. after the eighth day, the day after 
the Sabbath, which was the seventh day; and as 
the day, by our mode of reckoning, ended at sun- 
set, the evening of the first day of the week was 
really after the eighth day had ended, and hence 
the phrase, “ an eight days,” for a week, naturally 
took its rise. There seems to have been no ap- 
pearance of our Lord during the intervening week. 
Where he was, and what his employments, we 
need not conjecture, though this silence suggests 
a corroboration of the views formerly presented 
in regard to the physical properties of his risen 
body. 

It would seem that Thomas, in the hasty con- 
clusion to which he plunged after the crucifixion, 
that all was lost, had retired to some retreat, from 
which he did not emerge until after the first Lord’s 
day. When he heard an account of its events, he 
rejected the whole thing as incredible. He as- 
sured the disciples that they had been cheated by 
an optical illusion. Had they tested the reality 
of Christ’s body by the sense of touch, they would 
have discovered their error. As for him, he will 
not believe, unless he has this evidence, unless he 
can touch the marks made by the crucifixion, and 
thus prove, beyond contradiction, that it is the 
identical body that was crucified. This scepti- 
cism might have been removed during any other 


108 


THE SIXTH APPEARANCE. 


day of the week, but it was not done until the 
Lord’s day, doubtless in order again to put honour 
and authority upon the Christian Sabbath. That 
hallowed day was again to be distinguished by the 
cure of a sceptical disciple, in the establishment 
of the great fundamental fact of Christianity, the 
resurrection of Jesus. Hence we reach the spe- 
cial significance of this appearance, and the reason 
why it was postponed for a week, so as to fall on 
the Lord’s day evening, the only time of the day 
when the disciples could meet in safety for wor- 
ship. We have here then, I. The causes of the 
scepticism of Thomas. II. Its consequences. III. 
Its removal. 

I. The causes of the scepticism of Thomas. 

1. The original structure of his nature. Thomas 
seems to have been, naturally, a man of gloomy 
and saturnine spirit, prone to look on the dark side 
of everything, and live in the shade. There was 
little in him of the bright, sunny, and hopeful, and 
hence he was not so ready to believe good news as 
bad. 

This frigidity of temperament made him scep- 
tical, and by a singular phenomenon of mind, 
though slow in coming to favourable, he was hasty 
in coming to unfavourable conclusions. This is il- 
lustrated in the only other intimation we have of 
him in the gospel. When our Lord stated (John 
xi. 15) that he intended to go into Judea, on the 


THE SCEPTICAL DISCIPLE. 


109 


death of Lazarus, in spite of the remonstrances 
of the disciples as to the peril of the journey, 
Thomas seems to have given up in despair, and 
supposed that Christ was going to certain death ; 
but believing that there was nothing worth living 
for after that, he said, “ Let us also go, that we may 
die with him.” Here was a kind of heroism, but 
it was the heroism of distrust and despair. He 
ought to have known that Christ was able to de- 
fend himself if need be, but he at once dropped 
into, despair, when he found that Jesus would do, 
what he thought a rash venturing upon certain 
death. 

He lays bare here the secret defect of his char- 
acter. It was the want of a warm, confiding spir- 
it. It was not clearness of head so much as cold- 
ness of heart. All scepticism indeed is a di- 
sease of the heart. It is a want of that confiding 
trust in truth, that is not so much an intellectual as 
a moral quality, and arises not so much from per- 
ception of evidence, as from sympathy with the 
truth itself. 

This state of heart of course produces its legit- 
imate results in the intellect, and prevents it reach- 
ing conclusions from which the emotional nature 
recoils with aversion. 

But whilst this was true of Thomas by nature, 
it was also true that grace had done much to warm 
and open his heart. Had this natural tempera- 
10 


110 


THE SIXTH APPEARANCE. 


ment been connected with corrupt morals, he would 
have been like Judas, Ananias, or Demas ; or later 
still, like Julian the apostate, Paine, or Yoltaire. 
There never was a reviling sceptic, who was not, 
openly or secretly, corrupt in his morals. It was 
otherwise with Thomas. He was pure in his mor- 
als, the subject of divine grace, and though his 
native coldness of temper made him sceptical, the 
grace that was in him induced Jesus to take the 
trouble to cure, once for all, doubtless, this scepti- 
cism, and bring his heart forth to dwell in the 
sunshine. 

2. A wrong standard of belief. “ Except I shall 
see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my 
finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my 
hand into his side, I will not believe.” This was 
an unfair demand, and set up a wrong standard 
of belief. He had the testimony of ten men, who 
had seen and heard Jesus, and this testimony 
ought to have been believed. To ask more evi- 
dence, was unreasonable, and to be satisfied only 
by his own senses, and only that of touch, was 
folly. If ten men could be deceived, could not 
one? If their senses were imposed upon, might 
not his ? If Jesus or any other agent could de- 
ceive the senses of sight or hearing, might he 
not that of touch ? Hence to reject this evidence 
and demand that of his own touch alone, was ab- 
surd. It was, as a German writer quaintly observes, 


THE SCEPTICAL DISCIPLE. 


Ill 


to trust his ten fingers more than the testimony 
of the ten other apostles. 

Yet it is well that it was so, for we are thus as- 
sured that the evidence was well sifted. The fact 
that the ten were incredulous in regard to the 
statement of the women, and that Thomas was 
equally so as to theirs, proves that the evidence must 
have been irresistible, and gives us an ample guar- 
anty that this fundamental fact must have been 
fully and thoroughly tested, before it was believed 
and proclaimed to the world. 

But still it is not the less true, that all scepti- 
cism is unreasonable in its rationalism, and cred- 
ulous in its unbelief. It demands an evidence for 
which it has no right, and in doing so betrays its 
weakness. Men who cannot believe Moses and 
Paul, believe Yoltaire and Paine, Andrew Jackson 
Davis and the spirit-rappers. They cannot believe 
that the Holy Spirit has spoken to us through 
prophets and apostles, and yet they believe that 
these prophets and apostles may be summoned to 
rap out blundering guesses at the number of a 
man’s children, or the age of his grandmother, for 
a specified admittance fee to the medium. They 
would deem it inanity to believe the record made 
in regard to the tomb of Jesus, and deride the man 
who would believe all that he read on an Ameri- 
can tombstone, whilst they swallow with the ut- 
most simplicity the mendacious legends of the 


112 


THE SIXTH APPEARANCE. 


tombs of Egypt. All this arises from the fact, 
that, like Thomas, they have adopted a wrong 
standard of belief. They make their own notions 
or senses the rule, instead of some tried and sure 
standard. They will not believe a doctrine clear- 
ly set forth in the Bible, because it seems to them 
unreasonable, forgetting that this may be as much 
because of the error in their vision, as because of 
any error in the doctrine. Hence the true course 
is to ascertain, first, on such evidence as we ad- 
mit in other cases, whether the Bible is God’s 
word, and then with docile submission believe 
whatever is taught us in that Bible as truth. 

3. Another cause of the scepticism of Thomas 
was his absence from the meeting of the disciples. 

Had he been with them in that assemblage for 
prayer, he would have had every doubt removed, 
and been a rejoicing believer. The same cause 
still operates in producing or continuing scepti- 
cism. It is usually connected with a neglect of 
the means of grace. The sceptic is not found in 
the place of prayer, a devout worshipper, and 
hence fails to receive a blessing from God. It is 
true that he may read at home more able discourses 
than he can hear at church ; may be more logical 
and learned than the preacher ; may read the Bible 
at home as well as hear it at the house of God ; but 
the simple fact is, that God has not promised to 
bless the one, and he has promised to bless the 


THE SCEPTICAL DISCIPLE. 


113 


other, and without that blessing there can be no 
true faith. It is by the “foolishness of preaching” 
that he will save them that believe. Thomas 
might have argued that he could worship at home 
as well as in the upper room with the ten, and be 
as much benefited ; but the truth was that Jesus 
met with the ten, and not with him, and so will it 
ever be. God will honour his ordinances because 
he has promised to do so, and the neglect of them 
will commonly confirm a state of unbelief. The 
Saviour may be in the meeting for worship, may 
speak peace to the doubting, and often does, but 
the absent sceptic will not receive the blessing, be- 
cause he is not in the place where it is to be given. 

II. The consequences of the scepticism of Thomas . 

We need present but one of these consequences, 
an aimless wretchedness of soul. In any event, 
whether right or wrong, he was unhappy. If 
right in his unbelief, Jesus was an impostor, his 
hopes all vanished into air, and he left desponding 
and wretched, a dupe of his former belief. If 
wrong, he had put from him the most blessed 
hopes that ever brightened on his path, had 
refused to believe the words of Jesus, and was a 
dupe to his present unbelief. In either case his 
life was an aimless and joyless thing. 

The same thing is true of every sceptic. Whether 
right or wrong, he must be wretched just so far as 
he allows himself to think at all. If he is happy, 
10 * 


114 


THE SIXTH APPEARANCE. 


it is because he does not, or dares not think. If 
he is right, and it is uncertain whether there is a 
revelation from God, a hereafter, a personal God, 
he cannot be happy, for he is a poor blind insect 
groping in the dark. He suffers now, and knows 
not that he will not hereafter, or that he will have 
any compensation for the toils and sorrows of the 
present. He knows not that he will ever see the 
face of his loved dead, or meet the lost of earth in 
the bliss of heaven. Can he then be happy ? 
Have not most of the great sceptics confessed at 
times the secret sorrows that gnawed within ? 
Have they not confessed the shadows that chilled 
their hearts, and longed for light ? Hence if they 
are right, it is a truth that we need not care to 
know, for its effect would only be to make us 
wretched without making us better. It would 
only be to take away the only light that gilds the 
vale of tears, the only comfort that often cheers 
the home of poverty and pain, the only staff that 
supports the feebleness of age, and the only 
brightness that rests on the grave. It would be 
to take away a hope that makes men better, and 
give them nothing in its place but a dreary de- 
spair. If the sceptic is right, the Christian will 
be as happy in the future as he will be, and will 
either never discover that he has been deluded, or 
discover that .the delusion has never done him any 
harm. But if the sceptic is wrong, he is lost ! lost 


THE SCEPTICAL DISCIPLE. 


115 


for ever ! How fearful the difference ! How ap- 
palling, then, the consequences of that unbelief! 
In either case, the consequence of scepticism is 
wretchedness in this life; in one case, it is wretch- 
edness in the life to come. Can that which thus 
darkens in every case, and may destroy in one 
case, be the truth ? Must it not be from beneath 
and not from above ? 

III. The removal of the scepticism of Thomas. 

In this removal there are several stages that 
may be noted. 

1. The awaking of his faith. His faith was 
awakened by the sight of Jesus. The Lord 
showed him his hands and his feet, and he saw in 
the ragged print of the nails the proof that he was 
the crucified Saviour, and that the same love that 
had led him to the cross, now led him to win back 
his erring disciple. Doubtless the unbelieving 
Thomas expected that Jesus would meet him with 
language of stern rebuke, for he felt that he de- 
served it. But instead of this merited reproof, 
it was with tones and words of tenderness that 
he even stooped to meet his unreasonable demand, 
and asked him to come and put his finger into the 
print of the nails, and his hand into the gash of 
the spear, and be not faithless but believing. 
There was a sublime tenderness in thus stooping 
to meet the very unreasonableness of his unbelief 
that overwhelmed the heart of Thomas at once, 


116 


THE SIXTH APPEARANCE. 


and swept away his scepticism in its flood of 
love. 

Thus must faith be awakened now in the heart 
of the sceptic. Love is mightier than logic, be- 
cause unbelief is not so much a disease of the 
head, as of the heart. If a sceptic is honest, and 
capable of discerning the truth, let that truth be 
spoken in love ; let him be led to where he shall 
see “ one hanging on a tree, in agony and blood,” 
and this sight will do more to awake his faith than 
a thousand arguments. “ I am deeply concerned 
for your salvation,” said a pious man to a har- 
dened sceptic, who had long foiled every effort to 
convince him of the truth of Christianity by 
argument. The words were simple, but they were 
spoken with a swimming eye and a quivering lip, 
for the good man had spent much time the previ- 
ous night in prayer for the unbeliever. These 
words were the means of melting that proud and 
hard heart, and leading it to be concerned for its 
own salvation, a concern that never ceased until 
he found peace in believing. Living faith is a 
plant that needs not only the light of logic, but 
also the warmth of love, to enable it to grow, and 
bring forth fruit; for with the heart man believeth 
unto righteousness, and the belief of the gospel is 
not merely the cold assent of the mind to a propo- 
sition, but the warm trust of the heart in a 
promise. 


THE SCEPTICAL DISCIPLE. 


117 


2. The confession of his faith. As soon as 
Thomas saw Jesus, his scepticism vanished in a 
moment. He forgot his former demand for unrea- 
sonable evidence, for he found that he did not 
need it. He was satisfied and more than satisfied, 
and cried out in the fulness of his faith, “My 
Lord, and my God !” 

It is a striking proof that Thomas has his suc- 
cessors, to find the meaning of these plain words 
doubted. They so plainly call Christ God, and he 
so plainly receives the divine title, that there 
seems to be no escape from a conclusion thus 
asserted by the one and admitted by the other, 
that Jesus Christ was truly God. This conclusion 
is strengthened by the effort made to evade it, 
The only explanation offered is, that this was an 
exclamation of surprise, and that Thomas in his 
sudden amazement exclaimed, “ My Lord, and my 
God !” But aside from the fact that a compound 
exclamation of surprise, connected by the con- 
junction “ and,” would have been almost absurd, 
and completely at variance with that ejaculatory 
and abrupt form that characterizes such utterances, 
it would, in that case have been profanity. It 
would have been taking God’s name in vain, 
Jesus, who rebuked unbelief, would never have 
allowed profanity to pass unreproved. Moreover, 
it is said expressly in v. 28, that it was an expres- 
sion addressed to Jesus, and not an exclamation of 


118 


THE SIXTH APPEARANCE. 


surprise. “And Thomas answered and said unto 
him, (i. e. Jesus,) My Lord, and my God.” Hence 
it is a most striking proof-text of the divinity of 
Jesus Christ. 

3. The personal character of his faith. Luther 
says that the beauty of the Bible lies in its pro- 
nouns. It is not that we can say that there is a 
God, but that we can say, “ this God is our God, 
for ever and ever.” So it was with Thomas. Not 
content with saying as Nathanael did, “ Thou art 
the Son of God,” he clasps him now with all the 
tenderness of a living faith, and cries out, “My 
Lord, and my God.” Tradition relates that from 
that hour the restored penitent never swerved in 
his career, but toiled in Asia, preaching to Medes, 
Persians, Hyrcanians, Bactrians, and Ethiopians, 
until at last he laid down his life for Jesus on the 
distant plains of India. It was a noble atonement 
for the unbelief of a week. 

Thus must it be with the sceptic. He must be 
led to the cross, must see Jesus, as his Saviour, 
must be enabled to cry out, My Lord and my God, 
and my Redeemer, or he is not beyond all danger 
of falling back into unbelief. A personal appro- 
priating faith, that trusts the soul to Jesus as Lord, 
and clings to him as Saviour, is the only certain 
and radical cure for unbelief. 

4. The benediction of Jesus. “ Blessed are they 
that have not seen, and yet have believed.” 


THE SCEPTICAL DISCIPLE. 


119 


There are many who, like Thomas, are longing 
for some sensible assurance of the love of Christ, 
beyond the general declarations of the Bible. 
They want some inward token that they are born 
again, some sensible assurance of their acceptance, 
before they believe and commit their souls wholly 
to Jesus. They desire to be Christians, but want 
to know that they have been converted before 
they trust. This is precisely the error of Thomas. 
They want the evidence of sense, rather than of 
faith. They want some inward work in the heart, 
as a ground of faith, rather than the outward 
work of Christ, offered in the gospel. Such an 
assurance will not be given them. Their warrant 
to believe is in the word, and to give them any 
other warrant would be to dishonour that, and to 
thrust their hands into the Saviour’s side before 
believing. They must go to Jesus, just as they 
are, cast themselves on his mercy, and believe that 
he will do as he has promised, pardon, purify, and 
save, and then the benediction shall descend upon 
them, “ Blessed are they that have not seen and yet 
have believed.” They will soon need no other evi- 
dence that they have been born again, than the 
conscious operation of the new life that works 
within them. They will not so much inquire 
whether they are spiritually alive, as they will not 
think of doubting it. In the gradual unfolding of 
every filial affection, and the instinctive exercise of 


120 


THE SIXTH APPEARANCE. 


every filial feeling, the Spirit will witness with 
their spirits that they are the sons of God. 

We have then in this scene with Thomas the 
cause and cure of scepticism. Its cause is a cold 
and unbelieving heart, a heart that cannot warmly 
confide in what deserves its confidence. Under 
the influence of such a heart, a wrong standard of 
belief is set up, and the comforts of the gospel are 
rejected. The cure for it is to come as a little 
child, and obey and trust Jesus Christ, and thus 
make experiment of his word, as the balm of 
Gilead, the cure for the sin-sick soul. Goethe felt 
this dark longing of unbelief as he neared the 
close of life, and in one of his seasons of restless 
longing wrote a verse that may thus be trans- 
lated : — 


" Fairest among heaven’s daughters, 
Thou who stillest pain and woe, 
Pourest thy refreshing waters 
On the thirsty here below; 

Whither tends this restless striving ? 
Paint and tired, I long for rest; 

Heaven-born peace ! 

Come, and dwell within my breast.” 


These words, written in pencil, on coarse paper, 
chanced to come into the possession of a lady who 
understood the case. She, with exquisite propri- 
ety, wrote on the other side of the paper: “Peace 
I leave with you ; my peace I give unto you ; not 


THE SCEPTICAL DISCIPLE. 


121 


as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not 
your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” 
— Jesus Christ. But the monarch of German 
literature was too proud to stoop to the yoke of the 
lowly Nazarene ; and his yearnings, we have rea- 
son to fear, were ever unsatisfied, 
ll 


122 


THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 


CHAPTER X. 

THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. — THE SHORE OF j 
GALILEE. 

How the third meeting. I. The circumstances. The fishing party — 
The night of unsuccessful toil — The morning vision — The fire on 
the shore, and the food. II. The meaning of this scene. The pic- 
nic interpretation — Connection with the first miraculous draught of 
fishes — The meaning of the first miracle — “Toiling all night and 
taking nothing” — The inefficiency of the pulpit — The differences 
of the miracles, and their meaning — The second miracle shadows 
the final glory of the church — The repast on the shore, its meaning 
— Lessons to the church, now on the sea — Comfort to the individ- 
ual Christian. 

“I heard the voice of Jesus say, 

I am this dark world’s light, 

Look unto me, thy morn shall rise, 

And all thy day be bright. 

I looked to Jesus, and I found 
In him my star, my sun ; 

And in this light of life I’ll walk, 

Till travelling days are done. 

I heard the voice of Jesus say, 

Fear not the vanquished grave ; 

My arm, within its gloomy shades. 

Is mighty still to save. 

I clung to Jesus, and I now 

Shrink not from death’s dark vale ; 

For he will walk beside me there 
When heart and flesh shall fail.” 

" After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at 


THE SHORE OF GALILEE. 


12.3 


the sea of Tiberias ; and on this wise shewed he himself. There were 
together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of 
Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his dis- 
ciples. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto 
him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a 
ship immediately ; and that night they caught nothing. But when 
the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore ; but the disci- 
ples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Chil- 
dren, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said 
unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and yo shall 
find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for 
the multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved 
saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that 
it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was naked,) 
and did cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came in a 
little ship, (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hun- 
dred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they 
were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, 
and bread. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have 
now caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of 
great fishes, a hundred and fifty and three : and for all there were so 
many, yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith unto them, Come and 
dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? 
knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread^ 
and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third time that 
Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from 
the dead.” John xxi. 1 — 14. 

There seems to be a discrepancy between the 
statement of John that this was the third appear- 
ance of our Lord to his disciples, and the facts as 
recorded by the other evangelists. But the dis- 
crepancy is only apparent. It was really the 
seventh appearance, but only the third to the as- 
sembled disciples. The rest were to individuals, 
and were purely personal in their design. This 


124 


THE SEVENTH APPEAKANCE. 


was to a collective body of the disciples, and was 
of a more formal and official character than the 
four personal interviews, and hence was literally, 
as John states, the third meeting with the disciples. 
This meeting was a very remarkable one, so much 
so as to require its record in a kind of postscript 
to the gospel of John, and is worthy of our care- 
ful study. The natural order of consideration will 
be, first, the circumstances of the meeting , and 
then their meaning. 

I. The circumstances of this meeting on the shore. 

The disciples had parted with Jesus in Jerusa- 
lem during the second week after the resurrection, 
and had gone to Galilee to await the great meet- 
ing promised there. Whilst waiting for it, it was 
needful for them to subsist, and being poor, they 
naturally reverted to their former employment to 
support them until the will of Christ was more 
fully made known. Where Jesus was during this 
interval, we know not. As already remarked, his 
existence during these forty days was under pecu- 
liar physical conditions, as is intimated by the 
statement that, when he appeared, he is said to 
have “ shewed himself,” as if he was naturally in 
visible, and became visible only by an act of the 
will. 

There were at least seven of the disciples togeth- 
er : Peter ; Thomas, no longer the doubter, and no 
longer absent when Jesus appears ; Nathanael of 


THE SHORE OF GALILEE. 


125 


Cana, who was probably the apostle called Bar- 
tholomew ; James and John, who with Peter were 
the witnesses to so many of the miracles ; and two 
other disciples, who, from their previous associa- 
tions with the others, were probably Philip and 
Andrew. Peter, with his wonted forwardness, 
proposes that they should go and fish, to which 
the rest consent, but toil all night and take no- 
thing. 

If we could know the conversation of that long 
and toiling night, it would doubtless furnish us 
much that was very interesting. Peter would 
probably tell of his fall, his penitence, and the 
words of love that the Master spake as he gently 
restored him to his former hope. Thomas could 
speak of his scepticism and his restored faith, and 
the fervent resolve with which he now clung to 
his Lord and his God. Nathanael could relate his 
wonderful interview with the Lord in an adjacent 
city, and how he had seen heaven open and the 
angels ascending and descending on the Son of 
Man. 

James, Philip, and Andrew, could each bring 
forward some well remembered fact or word, that 
had fastened on their memories, whilst John, the 
beloved, might muse in silence as he looked out on 
the stars and the sea, and thought of that wonderful 
love that was then beginning to unfold to his vis- 
11 * 


126 THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 

ion, wider than the cope of heaven, and deeper 
than the waters of the sea of Galilee. 

As the night wore away, and the gray morning 
began to dawn on the wild hills that stand around 
Gennesaret, they turned to the shore with feel- 
ings of disappointment. As they neared it, they 
saw, in the dim twilight that was flushing the sky, 
the form of a man on the shore. There was some ; 
thing strange and almost suspicious in the sight, 
and hence, though he addressed them in terms not 
only courteous, but kind, “ Children, have ye any 
meat ?” they answered somewhat roughly, “ No.’ 7 
He then bade them to cast on the right side of the 
ship, which when they did, they found the net so 
full that they could not draw it into the ship. 
This sudden and miraculous draught reminded 
the thoughtful John of another in the same sea, 
on a former occasion, and he whispered to Peter, 
“ It is the Lord.” When Peter heard this, he 
could not wait for the slow movement of the ship, 
although it was only about one hundred yards 
from the shore, and he girt his outer garment upon 
him, that he might present himself with decent 
propriety before his Lord, and leaping into the 
water, he waded ashore, and cast himself, doubtless 
in fervent adoration, at the feet of Jesus. Mean- 
while the disciples left the larger vessel, launched 
a boat, and drew the net to shore. When they 
came near, Peter met them and aided them to land 


THE SHORE OF GALILEE. 


127 


it, and on counting the fish, they found that they 
had one hundred and fifty-three, and yet their net 
was not broken. 

As they drew near the shore a strange sight met 
their gaze. They saw a fire on the shore, with 
fish and bread cooking as if for a meal. When 
they had counted the fish, Jesus invited them to 
breakfast. There was in all this something so 
strange, startling, and almost spectral, that they 
were filled with awe. Whence and why this fire 
on the lonely shore ? Whence the fish and bread, 
and yet some of their own fish to be added ? 
What did all this mean ? They desired to ask, but 
were deterred by that feeling of awe that they 
could not repress in the mysterious presence of 
Jesus. But at his invitation they sat down beside 
the cheerful fire, and made their morning repast, 
we doubt not, in gladness and gratitude. 

Such were the circumstances of this remarkable 
meeting on the shore of Galilee. 

II. What was the meaning of this scene ? 

There is one school of interpretation which al- 
leges that our Lord kindled this fire on the shore, 
and prepared this meal, merely as an act of kind- 
ness to his disciples. He knew they had been 
fishing all night, and would be cold and hungry, 
and hence provided fire and food for their re- 
freshment. All this is true, but to say that this 
is the whole meaning of the scene, is to be guilty 


128 


THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 


of a most shallow evasion. Why the double sup- 
ply of fish to the coals? Why were those from 
the sea brought, and added to those on the shore, 
in making the meal ? Why did they delay to 
count the fish before they were asked to break- 
fast ? Why is the number so carefully recorded ? 
All these things prove that there was a deeper 
meaning in the transaction, than the mere supply 
of the cold and hunger of these disciples. 

What then was the design of it? The mind 
reverts instantaneously to another draught of 
fishes made in the same sea, about three years be- 
fore, when four of the seven disciples here present 
were called. That miraculous draught was made 
at the opening of Christ’s work, and is generally 
agreed to have symbolized truths pertaining to 
the opening; this therefore at the close of that 
work, or rather at the opening of a new portion 
of his work, would seem in like manner to embody 
truths suitable for that period. If the one was a 
symbolical l*§sso t n, so also was the other, and hence 
the reason for its minute record. In the first mir- 
acle, our Lord gave the clue to its meaning in the 
declaration to Peter and the others that they should 
be fishers of men, Luke v. 10. It was a lesson to 
the disciples as preachers of the gospel, and a 
lesson that sunk deep into their hearts. The 
adoption of the fish as an anagrammatic symbol 
of Jesus Christ, and its frequent appearance in the 


THE SHORE OF GALILEE. 


129 


early Christian art and literature, shows how 
deeply this lesson was engraved on the heart of 
the church * An important lesson was taught 
Peter, as he was called the first time to the apos- 
tolic office, and another lesson equally important 
was taught him, as he was to be reinvested with 
it, after his fall. 

The lesson taught in the first miraculous 
draught of fishes was the same that was taught in 
the parable of the net, in Matt. xiii. 47, 48. “ The 
kingdom of God is like a net that was cast into 
the sea, and gathered of every kind, which when it 
was full, they drew to shore, and sat down and 
gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad 
away.” In the miracle it is added that the net 
brake because of the number of fishes, and the 
exact number is not given. The lesson thus em- 
bodied is a most obvious one, and one that the 
whole history of the church confirms. It predicts 
that in the casting of this gospel net, many shall 
be enclosed in it who are not good ; and that there 
shall be rents and schisms in its external bonds, 
of a most serious character. And has it not been 
so ? Has not the visible church included both 
bad and good, both wise and foolish ? And has 


* The Greek word IX0YS, fish, contains the first letters of the 
phrase Iriaovs ’Xpicrrog Qeov Ytoy "Eiortip, Jesus Christ , Son of God , the 
Saviour , and is found engraven on the tombs of the early Chris- 
tians in the catacombs of Rome. 


130 


THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 


not its outward form been torn again and again 
by schism, heresy, and error ? And are not those 
who have once been brought in often breaking 
through its trammels and plunging again into the 
miry sea? It is obvious then that this first 
miraculous draught of fishes presented precisely 
the lesson that the disciples needed in beginning 
their work, and that the truths thus symbolized 
both by parable and by miracle have been verified 
by the history of the church. 

It is most natural then for us to infer that simi- 
lar lessons were designed to be taught by the 
second miracle of this kind. In both cases, they 
had toiled all night and caught nothing ; in both 
cases, at the command of Christ, and by his 
miraculous power, their labours were crowned 
with success. How painfully this common fact 
foreshadows the labours of ministers often needs 
no proof. It is sadly true of them but too fre- 
quently, that they toil all night and take nothing. 
They go forth, wakeful and weeping, and strive to 
win souls to Christ, and yet are compelled to re- 
turn with the mournful plaint, “Who hath be- 
lieved our report?” This want of success is 
sometimes referred to the inefficiency of the pulpit, 
and we are told that if preachers would copy the 
manner of the politician and the lawyer, they 
would be more successful. This is like the assur- 
ance that with a different twine to the net, or a 


THE SHORE OF GALILEE. 


131 


different throw in handling it, the disciples would 
have enclosed the fish. But the fact remains, that 
this very want of success was long ago predicted 
in the unsuccessful toil of the disciples on the sea 
of Galilee during that weary night, when they 
toiled, and yet took nothing. This fact that was 
common to both miracles, and the further fact that 
only at the command of Jesus their labours were 
crowned with success, indicate that the two had 
the same significance. They were both acted par- 
ables, designed to embody truths needful for their 
instruction as “ fishers of men.” 

But there are differences between the two, that 
are too striking to be undesigned. The first mir- 
acle was at the opening of Christ’s ministry, the 
second at its close. This indicates to us the 
meaning of each scene. The one presents the 
work of the church, during its continuance in the 
world’s history ; the other, its welcome at the close 
of that history, when the work of redemption is 
finished. The one exhibits the history of the 
church visible, in its progress through time ; the 
other, the history of the church invisible, as it 
shall be gathered at last on the shores of eternity. 
This is no novelty of interpretation, but as old as 
Augustine, who unfolds repeatedly, with his 
wonted richness of illustration, this view of the 
two miracles. 

We have then an explanation of the differences 


132 


THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 


in the two cases. In the first miracle Christ was 
in the ship ; in the second, on the shore. In the 
first, the fish were caught and placed in the ship ; 
in the second, on the shore. In the first, the nets 
brake, and many escaped to the sea again ; in the 
second, although there were so many, it is dis- 
tinctly recorded that the nets did not break. In 
the first, the ship was ready to sink because of the 
great weight ; in the second, there was no danger 
or alarm of any kind, all was secure. 

These differences describe the precise difference 
between the church militant, and the church tri- 
umphant. Now, the church is like a fisher’s bark, 
with its net in the sea. All around her is wild, 
restless, and troubled. The world is like the ever- 
tossing sea, now calm and quiet, then torn with 
tempests, and casting up mire and filth. This 
frail bark of the church is not idle, but busily at 
work with its nets. And men are gathered within 
their folds, though of a mixed character, bad as 
well as good, and the nets themselves are often 
torn with schism and separation, and of those that 
are brought into the church, many are but a dead 
weight, and only tend to swamp and sink her. So 
it has ever. been, so it is now. Those who have 
seen the church labouring in the wild tossings of 
human history, have often predicted her destruc- 
tion. These predictions would have been verified 
but for one blessed fact, Christ was in the vessel, 


THE SHORE OF GALILEE. 


133 


and she could not be lost. Tossed though she 
may be, with torn net, and a sinking hull, to 
human eyes, she cannot perish, for she carries 
Jesus, and must therefore come safely at last to the 
shore. 

Her condition, when the voyage of time is ended, 
is vividly presented in the second miracle. There 
Christ stands to give her a welcome on the quiet 
shore, giving assurance that when her long night 
of toil has ended, when her earthly history has 
closed, she shall be welcomed to that bright 
and heavenly strand ; when with the light of the 
eternal morning on the hills, she will be brought 
safely to the shore, not a twine of her net snapped, 
not a spar shattered, not a purpose or promise of 
God concerning her unfulfilled or broken. The 
church visible has torn nets, broken spars, and 
sinking hulls, for she includes the bad as well as 
the good ; the church invisible has none of these, 
for she includes only “the sacramental host of God’s 
elect,” the redeemed and ransomed, of whom none 
shall ever be lost. 

By the same principle do we interpret the other 
variations in the miracles. In the first, the net 
was simply cast in the deep ; in the second, on the 
right side of the ship. The right side is the side 
of honour and value, and it is implied that all who 
are taken there are good. The same fact is inti- 
mated in the numbers taken. In the first, it was 
12 


134 


THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 


a great multitude, uncounted ; in the second, one 
hundred and fifty and three, carefully counted, in 
spite of the delay thus caused, and all of them 
great fishes. This difference points not obscurely 
to the fact that the church visible is composed of 
a mixed multitude ; whilst the church invisible is 
composed only of that counted number that shall 
be found in the Lamb’s book of life, all of 
them chosen vessels, counted jewels, sheep known 
by name to the great Shepherd. Whether the 
number one hundred and fifty-three has a special 
significance, may be questioned. Jerome states 
that it was the precise number of species of fish 
then known to the ancients, quoting an ancient 
authority to that effect, and suggests that it was 
thus intimated that all classes should be found in 
the number of the saved, and that from every 
kindred, and tongue, and people, should at last 
be gathered ransomed souls, by the blood of 
Christ, and the toils of the church. However 
this may be, it is obvious that the uncounted mass 
of the first draught fitly represents the mixed 
multitude that compose the church visible, whilst 
the carefully counted and recorded number of the 
second suggest the chosen seed, the hundred and 
forty and four thousand that shall stand beside the 
Lamb on Mount Zion. 

Here then we reach the meaning of the fire and 
food on the shore. They do not appear in the 


THE SHORE OF GALILEE. 


135 


first miracle, because the church in the period 
there represented had not reached her rest. But 
at the time exhibited in the second she shall be 
welcomed to that blessed festival — that marriage 
supper of the Lamb, where there shall sit down in 
the heavenly kingdom, Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob, with the great company that no man can 
number. This glorious banquet of heavenly bliss 
was fitly shadowed forth by the fire of coals, and 
fish thereon, and bread, that welcomed the weary 
apostles in the chilly morning that succeeded 
their night of toil. But why bring of the fish 
they had caught, to add to this prepared pro- 
vision ? Why, but to shadow forth the great fact 
that the works of earth shall constitute a part of 
the joys of heaven. “ Blessed are the dead who 
die in the Lord, for their works shall follow them.” 
Heaven is the gift of God through our Lord Jesus 
Christ, but the grade and grandeur of that gift 
will depend on the fidelity with which we toil at 
the oar and the net in life. The great truth thus 
presented by the adding of the fish in the net to 
those on the shore is, that we must carry a part of 
our heaven with us from earth. It must begin here, 
or it will not be enjoyed there. Hence the absurdity 
of hoping that we may live as we please in this 
life, and yet be allowed to enter at death upon the 
enjoyments of the life to come. We must carry 
some part of the heavenly banquet with us. The 


136 


THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 


memories of our efforts to serve God, the words 
and deeds of love on earth, the souls that have 
been given us as stars in our crown of rejoicing — 
all these will constitute a large part of the enjoy- 
ments of heaven. When we think how rich must 
be the rewards that greet such men as Martyn, 
Whitefield, Payson, and others, who have turned 
many souls to righteousness, in tracing the results 
of their labours on earth, in meeting the hundreds 
that have been brought by their agency to the 
cross, we can see how fitly this fact was exhib- 
ited, by the significant addition that was made to 
the morning meal on the shore of Galilee. 

Hence to the toiling and struggling church, 
this scene is full of beautiful instruction. She is 
toiling now in the midst of the sea, and the night 
is dark on the waters. Much of her toil seems 
fruitless and thankless, and but few come to her 
solemn feasts. These unsuccessful efforts are often 
thrown in her teeth with a taunt, as if they were a 
mark of her imbecility. We would turn from 
these words of bitter reproach, and listen to those 
sweet accents that come through the dim haze that 
hangs over the waters : “ Children, have ye any 

meat?” and steering by that voice we would 
press on with the assurance that soon the long 
night will be gone, and the morning begin to light 
up the hills, and then shall this weary toil be 
forgotten, as we are welcomed to the glorious repast 
that is waiting for us on the shore. 


THE SHORE OF GALILEE. 


137 


To the individual Christian it also gives most 
cheering comfort. We too are often toiling all 
night, and taking nothing. We are ready to des- 
pair, because of our want of success. But let us 
patiently toil on, for there is near us, unseen, one 
who will give us aid at the right time. Soon the 
day shall dawn, and the shadows flee away, and on 
that dim line of sea and shore, where there meet 
and touch, a tossing time, and an unmoving eter- 
nity, we shall find one awaiting us, who has said, 
“ When thou passest through the waters, I will be 
with thee.” We know not how we shall meet this 
last hour, whether like Peter buffeting the waves, 
or like John and the others gently drawn to the 
shore; but this we know, that if we are in the 
ship, we shall find, as soon as we land , a joyous 
greeting, and a feast prepared, of which that cheer- 
ful fire and welcome meal on the lonely shore of 
Galilee, was a significant foreshadowing. Earth 
will scarce have faded from the dying eye, before 
heaven, with its undying splendors, shall welcome 
the weary voyager to its quiet rest. Oh ! what a 
contrast to those who refuse to enter the ark, who 
also shall be cast on this silent shore of eternity, 
but not to meet a fire of coals and food thereon, 
but a fire that shall never be quenched, a lake 
whose wild tossings of wrath shall continue for 
ever ! 


12 * 


138 


THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 


CHAPTER XI 

THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE — LOVEST THOU ME? 

Peter reinvested with the apostolic office — The fire of coals. I. The 
Questions. (1) The name by which Peter was addressed. (2) The 
two words for love. (3) The contrast with the other disciples. 
(4) The gradual relenting of Jesus to Peter. II. The charges. 
Feeding and governing the flock — No primacy of Peter here — The 
girding of old age. III. Lessons from this scene. (1) The es- 
sence of the Christian life is love to Christ. (2) The test of love 
is obedience — The German pastor and the picture. (3) Love to 
Christ is made perfect through suffering — The girdings and carry- 
ings of the Christian — Not loving Christ — Maranatha. 

“ Do not I love thee, dearest Lord ? 

Behold my heart and see ; 

And turn the dearest idol out 
That dares to rival thee. 

“ Is not thy name melodious still 
To my attentive ear ? 

Doth not each pulse with pleasure bound 
My Saviour’s voice to hear ? 

“ Hast thou a lamb in all thy flock 
I would disdain to feed ? 

Hast thou a foe before whose face 
I fear thy cause to plead ? 

“ Thou knowest I love thee, dearest Lord, 

But oh ! I long to soar 

Far from the sphere of mortal joys. 

And learn to love thee more.” 

“ So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son 
of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these ? He saith unto him, Yea, 


LOVEST THOU ME? 


139 


Lord ; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my 
lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, 
lovest thou me ? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord ; thou knowest that 
I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him 
the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me ? Peter was 
grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me ? 
And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest 
that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verily, 
verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thy- 
self, and walkedst whither thou wouldest : but when thou shalt be 
old, thou shalt streteh forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, 
and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying 
by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken 
this, he saith unto him, Follow me.” — John xxi. 15—19. 

The miracle on the sea and shore of Galilee had 
a general significance for the whole church. But 
it had a special meaning for Peter. As the first 
miracle was designed to introduce Peter to the 
apostolic office, and give him such instruction as 
he needed ; the second was designed to mark his 
reinvestment with the office, after the forfeiture 
of it made by his fall. His personal faith was re- 
stored on the first day, during the interview with 
our Lord, but an official as well as a personal 
restoration was necessary. This official reinvest- 
ment took place on this occasion, and was perhaps 
the main design of this appearance on the shore. 
Hence, after the morning repast was over, Peter 
was specially addressed, and after his formal con- 
fession of penitence and faith, was formally rein- 
vested with the apostolic office. 

We know not that there was a designed connec- 


140 


THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 


tion in one fact recorded, but it is at least worthy 
of remark that the last time this evangelist men- 
tions that Peter saw “ a fire of coals,” was in the 
palace of the High Priest, when he was guilty 
of that sad fall, which made this reinvestment 
of office necessary. Hence, when he again saw 
“ a fire of coals,” and the form of Jesus near it, 
the scene in the palace of the high Priest, with his 
cowardly denial, would naturally rise to his mem- 
ory, and crimson his cheek with sorrow and 
shame. But, however this may be, it was soon 
evident that this interview bad a special signifi- 
cance for Peter. After the social repast was over, 
and the disciples were placed somewhat at their 
ease, our Lord propounded a question three times 
to Peter, and each time followed the answer with 
a charge, from both of which lessons of instruc- 
tion may be learned. 

I. The questions . 

There are several points that strike us in these 
questions, thrice repeated by our Lord. 

1. The name by which Peter was addressed. It 
was not Peter, the apostolic name, but that by 
which he was called before his apostleship, “ Si- 
mon, son of Jonas.” He received his name Cephas, 
or, in its Greek form, Peter, because of his confes- 
sion of Christ; but having denied that confession, 
the name was denied to him. Hence in this tacit 
refusal to give him his apostolic name, there was 


LOYEST THOU ME? 


141 


an implied rebuke of the severest character, and 
something that reminded him very vividly of that 
shameful denial when he forfeited at once his name 
and his office. 

2. In the words employed to describe Peter's feel- 
ings. There are two words in the Greek language 
describing affection, both of which are used in 
this passage. The one signifies rather a feeling 
of regard, the other of affection * The way in 
which these words are used seems to preclude the 
possibility of its being accidental. The colder 
word is used by our Lord in his question, “ Si- 
mon, son of Jonas, dost thou regard me more than 
these ?” In the selection of this colder term he 
thus intimated that his love might have sunk even 
below the feeling of regard. Peter in his reply 
uses the warmer word, and affirms that he not only 
had a regard for Jesus, but a love for him. 

3. The contrast suggested with the other disciples . 
“ Lovest thou me more than these V' It is true 
that the word “ these” is ambiguous, and may be 


* This distinction between ayazaco and $tXea) is not admitted by 
some scholars. Trench denies it in his Miracles, and admits it in 
his Synonymes, N. T. Liddel and Scott state distinctly that dyazaoj 
differs from </>i\ew strictly as implying regard and satisfaction 
rather than affection. The Passage from Xen. Mem., II. 7. § 9 
seems to establish this distinction. Speaking of relatives, Socrates 
says, “You will love them, when you see that they are 

serviceable to you, and they will grow attached to you 
( dyazriaovaiv ).” 


142 THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 

referred to either persons or things, as our Lord is 
supposed to have pointed to the disciples, or the 
nets, fish, &c. But Peter had never shown any un- 
due love of his worldly business to call for a 
rebuke, nor was he in any apparent danger of this 
sin. It is true that Peter could not tell whether 
his love exceeded that of the other disciples, but 
our Lord asked not for the fact, but for his 
opinion. He had once expressed the opinion that 
such was the fact, when he said, “ Though all men 
forsake thee, yet will not I.” Then he thought he 
loved Christ more than the others, and then Christ 
warned him of his coming fall. Now when Jesus 
would thrice restore him, from his thrice repeated 
fall, he reminds him of his former opinion, and 
asks him if he now thinks that he had even more 
regard for him than the other disciples. 

Peter appeals to Christ’s own knowledge, and 
using the warmer word, affirms that he had not 
only a regard for him, but that he loved him. But 
he shrinks from comparing himself now with 
others, and does not allude to that part of our 
Lord’s question. He had learned a sorrowful wis- 
dom from the past, that prevented him from 
speaking as he once did. 

4. The gradual change of Jesus toward him. 
This change is shown first in the omission of the 
painful reference to others in the second question. 
He still retains the colder word, but implies that 


LOYEST THOU ME? 


143 


he is satisfied with Peter on the point of his feel- 
ings to the other disciples. Peter again replies, 
using the warmer word to describe his affection. 

In the third query, our Lord concedes tacitly 
Peter’s feelings, by adopting the warmer word 
“ love,” in asking the question, as if he was sat- 
isfied on this point. Peter was grieved because 
the threefold question not only seemed to doubt 
the sincerity of his avowals, but pointed plainly 
to his threefold denial, and brought that scene 
painfully before his mind. But if Peter was 
grieved, we may be glad, for we have thus a new 
confession of his faith, and a testimony to the di- 
vinity of the Saviour, in the words, “ Lord, thou 
lenowest all things , thou knowest that I love thee.” 
This plain ascription of Omniscience to our Lord, 
and his admission of it by his silence, form an ar- 
gument for the divinity of Christ, that cannot be 
evaded without charging both Jesus and Peter 
with blasphemy. And the fact that the question- 
ing did not cease until this confession was called 
forth, gives additional strength to the inference 
that we draw from this declaration, that our Lord 
was, in very deed, God manifest in the flesh, the 
divine, omniscient Redeemer. 

II. The charges. 

After each reply of Peter to the query, “ Lovest 
thou me ?” our Lord charged him to feed his lambs, 
or his sheep. There are two words employed here 


144 


THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 


in the Greek, that differ in significance. The first* 
means to feed, the secondf has a wider meaning, 
and includes the entire work of the shepherd, 
ruling and superintending the flock, as well as fur- 
nishing them with food. These words are hardly 
used indiscriminately. The first charge is, “ Feed 
my lambs ;” the second is, “ Shepherd my sheep 
the third is, “ Feed my sheep.” The two words 
include the two parts of ministerial duty, instruc- 
tion and government , and describe the whole pas- 
toral work. 

The observable fact is, that in his charge to the 
newly invested apostle, our Lord uses the com- 
mand, “ to feed” twice, and to govern but once. 
Why was this ? It would seem plainly to set forth 
the fact that the great duty of the minister of 
Jesus is to preach the word, and to furnish the 
people with instruction, and that the function of 
government is subordinate to that of instruction 
in its prominence and importance. How needful 
this truth was, all subsequent history establishes. 
It is the tendency of all false systems of religion 
to generate priestcraft and ghostly rule, because 
it is the tendency of the unsanctified heart to 
grasp power. This tendency has been especially 
manifest in that apostate church, which, as if in a 
judicial blindness of self-condemnation, has called 


t TloLfiaLvco. 


* B6(xko). 


LOVEST THOU ME? 


145 


itself by the name of Peter. That church, in the 
face of this charge of the Lord, has elevated the 
governing and liturgical office of the minister 
above that of preaching and instructing, and thus 
reversed the words of Jesus. It would seem, in 
foresight of this grasp at priestly power, that our 
Lord, in giving Peter his apostolic charge, twice 
commands him to feed, and but once to govern. 

Hence it is plain how little support is here fur- 
nished for the figment of the primacy of Peter. 
This reinvestment of office and charge have some- 
times been used for that purpose, but in flagrant 
disregard of the whole teaching of the scene. 
Our Lord does not appoint him chief shepherd on 
earth, but only reinstates him in an office he had 
lost by his fall. The absurdity of this claim is 
apparent from the fact that Peter, thirty years af- 
ter this time, when writing his epistle, gives the 
same charge to the elders of the church, and ex- 
pressly disavows all primacy. “ The elders which 
are among you, I exhort, who am also an elder, 
and a witness of the sufferings of Christ — feed* 
the flock of God, which is among you, taking the 
oversight (the episcopacy) thereof — neither as be- 
ing lords over God’s heritage.” 1 Pet. v. 1-3. 
Using the same word to describe their official work 
that our Lord does in describing his, he transfers 
to all these elders whatever power Christ bestowed 


13 


Lloindvare. 


146 


THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 


on him in the use of this word, and accompanies 
this with a warning against priestly domination. 

We have then, in this thrice-repeated restoration 
to office, a precise correspondence to the thrice-re- 
peated fall, and a delineation of the nature of the 
ministerial work. It is an office of teaching and 
ruling, but the great function of it is, to preach 
the gospel. In doing this, the pastor must begin 
with the lambs, instruct and secure the instruction 
of the young, then instruct and rule discreetly 
the more advanced, so that each one may receive 
his food in due season, and he should remember 
always that he holds and uses his office not for 
his own good, but for the good of others. 

Having sketched the work of his life, our Lord 
then indicates the nature of his death. “ When 
thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, &c.” This 
we are assured was an intimation that, after the 
toil of a long life, he must end that life with the 
death of a martyr. Indeed we have reason to be- 
lieve that at least this portion of the gospel of 
John was written after the death of Peter, and 
hence the prominence given to this prediction. 
Many years passed before this prophecy was ful- 
filled, but tradition affirms that at last it was veri- 
fied, and this strong-hearted apostle ended his career 
on the cross. But it is also affirmed that he begged 
the privilege, which was granted to him, of being 
crucified with his head downward, feeling un- 


LOVEST THOU ME? 


147 


worthy of the privilege of suffering precisely 
like his beloved Master. Thus was it literally 
fulfilled, that when he was old, he stretched forth 
his hands, and another girded him and carried him 
whither he would not. And we cannot doubt 
that, as the mists of death gathered over his eyes, 
the same form that appeared on the lonely hills 
of Galilee was revealed again, and that as he 
neared the shore of eternity, he saw, not a fire 
of coals and fish thereon, but the radiant scenes 
of that city that hath foundations, where he was 
welcomed to the rest that remaineth for the people 
of God. 

Having delivered this prophecy in words, our 
Lord embodied it in a symbolical act, and moving 
up the rocky shore said to Peter, “Follow me.” 

III. Lessons from this scene. 

1. The essence of the Christian life is love to Christ . 
Love to God and man is the fulfilling of the law ; love 
to the God-man, the divine and yet human Saviour, 
is the essence of the gospel. So it was with Peter as 
these questions proved, and so it must be with us. 
We too have denied Christ. Impenitence is a con- 
stant denial of him, a constant asseveration, “I am 
not his disciple.” There is nothing of which the 
impenitent man is more ashamed than of acknow- 
ledging that he is anxious about his soul. His 
life is a denial of Jesus. Nor does this always 
cease when he enters the church. The Christian 


148 THE SEVENTH APPEAKANCE. 

professor often denies liis Master, and conceals his 
profession, or makes some unworthy compromise 
with the world. 

Then it may be that Jesus comes to him after 
some season of darkness and sorrow, and whispers 
comfort to his soul, and even makes the rocky 
shore to glow with rich provision for his wants, 
and then whispers in his ear, “ Lovest thou me ?” 

If the dealings of God have been sanctified to his 
soul, he will have an humble spirit, a spirit that 
will not claim superiority over other disciples, 
but only say with lowly and yet fervent sincerity, 
“ Thou knowest that I love thee.” 

He will have a penitent spirit that is not only 
grieved for sin in the past, but resolved to avoid 
it in the future. And he will also have a drawing 
of his heart to Jesus, so that though he can only reach 
him by wading through the deep waters, or climb- 
ing the rugged hills, he will strive to get nearer to 
him, feeling that the love of Christ constrains him, 
and that his life is now love. 

2. The test of love is obedience. “ If ye love me, 
keep my commandments,” was only another form 
of the same test that our Lord gave to Peter when 
he said, “ Feed my sheep.” There is a love that 
vents itself in raptures and ecstasy, which may be a 
spurious excitement. The test is, Do you work for 
Christ ? He is not on earth in person, but he has 
many representatives. The lambs and the sheep are 


LOVEST THOU ME ? 


149 


always with us, and we can always show our love 
for him by our attention to them. This matter shall 
be made the subject of inquiry again when it shall 
be said to many, “ Inasmuch as ye did it not to the 
least of these, ye did it not to me.” Hence if we 
would know whether we love the Saviour, let us feed 
his lambs, let us go and seek out the poor, the sick, 
and the sorrowing ; and as we toil for them, because 
they are Christ’s feeble ones, we shall find our own 
love grow stronger and be able to say with deep 
sincerity, “ Lord, thou knowest all things, thou 
knowest that I love thee.” A pastor in Germany, 
who had been somewhat neglectful of his duty, 
was asked to dine one day with a friend, and after 
dinner chanced to see a picture that riveted his 
attention. It was a representation of the crucified 
Redeemer, with the words coming from his lips, 
“ All this I did for thee, what doest thou for me ?” 
It was a voice from heaven to his conscience, and 
he went home with the words ringing in his ears, 
“ What doest thou for me ?” and from that day he 
began to labour for Christ, with a zeal that knew 
no pause until he was able to say, “ Lord Jesus, 
receive my spirit.” Should these words come to 
you, O reader, from the Lamb slain in the midst 
of the throne, and if the thought of all his weari- 
ness and agony, his tears and toils, his life and 
death, came up to you, to tell what he did for you, 
what could you then adduce — what toils, what 
13 * 


150 


THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 


sacrifices, what work, would come up in memo- 
rial of what you were doing for him ? If you love 
him, keep his commandments : if you love him, go 
forth and feed his flock, both sheep and lambs. 

3. Love for Christ is made perfect by suffering. 
“ Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast 
young, thou girdedst thyself and walkedst whither 
thou wouldest ; but when thou shalt be old, thou 
shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall 
gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest 
not.” In early life the soul is wilful in its unsub- 
dued strength, and the will unbending. Youth is 
proud of its stirring powers, and walks with an 
unbowed neck. But if we continue to follow 
Christ, we shall learn the lesson of denying self, 
and giving up our own wills to the will of God. 
Others shall gird us and carry us whither we 
would not. We shall be carried to a sick bed, to 
a post of toilsome labour, to a house of mourning, 
or to a place of suffering ; but the blessed fact is 
that Christ is there, and our love for him is never 
perfected until it has been purified by suffering. 
So was it with the fervid writer of this gospel. 
He loved Christ when he was willing to call fire 
from heaven on the Samaritans, to rebuke the 
miracle worker who followed not him, and wished 
to take a place at the right hand of the Messiah in 
his triumph. But that love never reached its sub- 
limest fervour until half a century of suffering 


LOVEST THOU ME? 


151 


enabled him to pour forth those lines of seraphic 
love, that sparkle and glow in the loving epistles 
in which he has recorded the emotions of his 
heart. So was it also with Peter. It was in his 
old age, on the very verge of martyrdom, that he 
wrote those epistles, which hang rich and glowing 
with the ripe clusters of a love made perfect 
through sufferings. It may not be for us to wit- 
ness for Christ as Peter did, at the stake of mar- 
tyrdom; but we may just as truly witness for him 
in the chamber of sickness, the house of mourn- 
ing, the hovel of poverty, and the dreariness of 
disappointment and bereavement; and in this manly 
witnessing, our love shall become as gold seven 
times refined, or as the rich and blushing clusters 
of fruit that are reddest and ripest because they 
have been subjected to the hottest sun. Then if 
suffering in any form be our lot, let us remember 
that the Captain of our salvation was made perfect 
through sufferings ; that Peter and John, and the 
great cloud of witnesses, trod the same pathway; and 
that there are unfoldings of our Christian character 
that never take place until suffering comes, just as 
there are fruits that never ripen until touched by 
the frost. 

But we cannot conclude this chapter, without 
adverting to the fact, that it may have some 
reader, who in answer to the query, “ Lovest thou 
me ?” must say, “ Lord, thou knowest that I do not 


152 


THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 


love thee.” And the fearful words that are written 
about such an one are, “ If any man love not the 
Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema mara- 
natha.” Yes,“maranatha,” the Lord cometh ! There 
comes a time when you, poor, drifting voyager, 
shall end this lonely voyage, on a lonelier shore. 
A blacker night shall hang over the waters than 
that which rested on deep Galilee, and a sterner 
shore shall meet your startled gaze than the rocky 
strand of Gennesaret. It will be the blackness of 
darkness for ever, the awful reality of an un blest 
and unforgiven eternity. . We know not the forms 
and the sights that shall meet you on that wild and 
mysterious shore. We know not the words that 
shall break first on your astonished ear. But we 
do know that, unless you die at peace with God 
through our Lord Jesus Christ, you shall awake 
in that unknown land to shame and everlasting 

o 

contempt, and find that you are shipwrecked in 
your hopes for eternity. 


WHAT IS THAT TO THEE? 


153 


CHAPTER XII 

THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE — WHAT IS THAT TO 

THEE ? 

The walk on the shore — Silent love — uncertainty of tradition — The 
breathing grave. I. The question. Peter’s possible motives. (1) A 
momentary pang of repining — The feelings of the afflicted — A tar- 
get for the Almighty. (2) Mere curiosity — Intimacy of Peter and 
John — Anxiety to pry into the future — Wisdom of the veil that 
hides it. II. The answer. (1) The events of life ordered by the will 
of God — Predestination a doctrine full of comfort. (2) The Chris- 
tian’s life on earth a tarrying for the summons home — The aged 
and invalid — The dairyman’s daughter. (3) The cure of all anxiety 
for the future is the discharge of present duty — Follow Jesus. 

“ Follow me,” I know thy voice ; 

Jesus, Lord, thy steps I see ; 

Now I take thy yoke by choice ; 

Light thy burden now to me. 

“Then Peter, turning about, seeth the diseiple whom Jesus loved 
following, which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, 
which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him, saith to Jesus, 
Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will 
that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? follow thou me.” 
—John xxi. 20—22. 

This is the third scene in this remarkable inter- 
view on the shore of Tiberias. It would seem 
that our Lord, after restoring Peter to his apostle- 
ship by the threefold question and answer, began 


154 THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 

to move along the shore, and commanded Peter to 
follow him. This command was not a mere in- 
junction to imitate him, but part of an acted 
scene, full of instruction. To foreshadow that 
rugged path of life that Peter was to tread, our 
Lord began to ascend the steep and rocky shore, 
and commanded the restored apostle to follow 
him. Peter, having learned the lesson of obedience 
by the sad scenes of the past, instantly obeyed 
him, and rough though the path was, did not re- 
fuse to tread it, when he was only following in 
the footsteps of Jesus. 

They had proceeded but a short distance, when 
hearing a step behind them, Peter turned and 
saw John, it would seem, also following Jesus. 
There is something characteristically beautiful in 
this silent act of the beloved disciple. Jesus had 
not commanded him to follovf, but when he saw 
Christ go forward, he could not stay behind ; for 
his heart clung too fondly to both the Master and 
the disciple, to allow him to remain. It is as if he 
had said in his heart, The path may be rugged, but 
where Jesus leads, there I will follow. This is a 
striking illustration of that deep, silent, loving 
obedience of John, as contrasted with the unre- 
strained impulsiveness of Peter. Peter, instead of 
quietly following Jesus, as he was bidden, looked 
back, and instead of minding his own footsteps, 
minded those of John, and asked, Lord, and what 


WHAT IS THAT TO THEE? 155 

shall this man do? Oar Lord, in rebuke to this 
feeling thus expressed, replied, “ If I will that he 
tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? Follow thou 
me.” 

It is recorded that from this, the saying went 
forth that John was not to die. The utter uncer- 
tainty of tradition as a rule of interpreting scrip- 
ture is most strikingly illustrated here. Tradition 
interpreted these words of our Lord as an assur- 
ance that John would not die, though the tradition 
was made during the lives of inspired men. So 
extensive was this error, that it was needful to 
correct it by inspiration itself. But so tenacious 
was it, that even this correction did not wholly 
remove it, for when John did actually die, many 
believed that his death was not real, but only a 
trance or sleep, and some said that the earth could 
be seen moving on his grave, with the gentle 
breathing of the sleeper below. So wide-spread 
was this error, that even Augustine, in the fourth 
century, did not wholly reject it as false. Hence, 
when the followers of Peter, as they strangely 
term themselves, in both Rome and Oxford, tell us 
that we must rely on tradition as the rule by 
which scripture is to be interpreted, we have only 
to point to the scene in Galilee to show that, by 
the testimony of scripture itself, tradition is falla- 
cious, for even among inspired men and in a single 
generation it had so widely erred as to require a 


156 THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 

special revelation to correct it. If under sucli fa- 
vourable circumstances it could not be trusted, how 
utterly untrustworthy must it be when it reaches 
us through fifty generations of superstition and 
error ? 

There are two things that arrest our attention 
in this scene : the question, and the answer. 

I. The question, “Lord, and what shall this man do?” 

In the Greek, the words “ shall do ” are not 
found, and the question is simply “ Lord, but this 
man, what?” That is, How shall it be with him ? 
How shall he die ? Shall it be as I am to die ? 
That this is his meaning, appears plainly from the 
reply of Jesus. He had just told Peter that his 
life must be one of obedience through scenes of 
suffering, and his death one of violence. When 
he saw John following, he presumed that our 
Lord would also declare how it would be with 
him, and hence asked the question. 

What were the precise motives of Peter in 
asking this question, we do not certainly know, 
but we may infer that they were not exactly 
right, since the answer of our Lord was a refusal 
in the form of a rebuke. We may conjecture sev- 
eral possible motives. 

1. A momentary pang of repining. As our 
Lord lifted the veil from the future to Peter, and 
showed him the dark and rugged path before him, 
a path of toil and trial whose end was tinged with 


WHAT IS THAT TO THEE? 157 

blood, we do not wonder that Peter felt a recoil 
from the prospect. When he turned then to the 
beloved John, and thought that perhaps no such 
path was marked for him, the thought may have 
entered the mind of Peter, that his case was a 
hard one, and that John also ought to be made to 
share this lot. His feeling was, “Am I to be 
singled out thus for suffering? Are there no 
words of sad revelation also to him? How is it 
to be with him in life and in death ?” The afflicted 
know but too well the nature of this feeling. 
When some great blow has made the heart sad 
and the home silent, it is not without a pang that 
the eye can look on those who have not been thus 
stricken. As the lonely mourner passes along the 
streets, and sees in the twilight the glow of the 
evening fires, and hears the sound of happy voices 
around the hearth, the thought of his solitary 
chamber, his cheerless home, and his gloomy 
heart, will come back upon him with a bitter in- 
tensity ; he will contrast his lonely sadness with 
their bright joy, and remember that he perhaps 
was yet more faithful than they in the discharge 
of duty. And the query will rise, Why are others 
exempt, whilst I suffer ? Why should I be sin- 
gled out as a target for the arrows of the Almighty ? 
So it may have been with Peter in thus contrast- 
ing his rugged lot with that of John. 

The feeling, however, was wrong. If it be 
14 


158 


THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 


Christ’s will that Peter should suffer and John 
escape, that will was right, and to be quietly 
borne. But the fact that John was not to suffer as 
Peter did, was no proof that he was not to suffer 
at all. He did suffer, and if Peter was called to 
a violent death, he was called to an earlier en- 
trance into heaven than the beloved apostle who 
was left to linger to a feeble old age on earth. 
Thus is it in the distribution of earthly sorrows. 
They are not only according to the will of Christ, 
but they are much more equally distributed than 
we suppose. There are counterbalancings to both 
joy and sorrow on earth, by which the result of 
human happiness, in the case of the true children 
of God, is made in the end to be equalized in a 
wonderful manner. 

2. Mere Curiosity. Peter was probably a de- 
voted friend of John. They were townsmen ; per- 
haps partners in business ; were associated in 
some of the most remarkable events of the life of 
our Lord ; were together in the Judgment Hall ; 
and came together to the grave. Hence Peter 
may, from mere affectionate curiosity, have desired 
to know what was in reserve for one whom he so 
much loved. 

This feeling is also a very natural one, and often 
indulged. As we look on the little babe that 
nestles in our arms, we long to forecast its future, 
to know whether it will live, and if so, what shall 


WHAT IS THAT TO THEE? 159 

be the complexion of its life. So also in regard 
to ourselves, we are anxious to know whether we 
shall be spared to raise our children, whether we 
shall be rich or poor, in sickness or health, and 
above all, when or how death shall come to us ; 
and we long to lift the dim veil that hides the 
future, and read the unopened leaves of our his- 
tory. But in mercy to us is that veil impenetra- 
ble and that volume sealed. Could we read the 
undeveloped future, the present would lose many 
if not all its joys, and be deprived of its most 
precious discipline. The sorrows to come would 
be all gathered on the present, instead of being 
diffused over our entire course, and thus darken 
the joys that we feel now ; whilst the faith and 
trust that are now developed by the perplexities 
and troubles of the present, would be rendered 
impossible by the knowledge of the precise 
issues of the future ; and duty which now brings 
its own reward in the mere exercise of our 
powers, would lose all its stimulus by the know- 
ledge of its apparent uselessness, in securing the 
immediate object of its aims. Hence this vain 
curiosity is all wrong, and should be repressed. 
We cannot and ought not to lift the veil that hides 
the future, for it is enough to know that it shall 
be well with the righteous and ill with the wicked, 
in the end ; and when that end is reached, all the 
mysterious steps of the way will be clear in the 


160 


THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 


glorious light of eternity. It is for us, simply to 
follow Jesus. 

II. We consider the answer of our Lord, “ If I 
will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? 
follow thou me.” 

The coming here spoken of must be his second 
coming to judgment, for it was evidently so under- 
stood by those who heard it, and John does not 
correct this opinion in correcting their erroneous 
inference. He simply calls their attention to the 
fact that Christ did not say that he should not die, 
but only, 11 If I will that he tarry,” and thus do 
not die, “ what is that to thee ?” The fact that he 
made no correction of this opinion, implies that 
he considered it to be true. 

There are three thoughts suggested by this 
reply. 

1. The events of life are all ordered according to 
the will of God. “If I will that he tarry, &c.” 
We assume of course that Christ is God, in this 
statement, for he himself assumes it. God alone 
has the right thus to speak about life and death, 
and the use of such language by Jesus is a clear 
claim of his divine character. The language “If 
I will” implies that the life of John was to be 
precisely as he willed it should be. Now as this 
could not be peculiar to John, it asserts a truth 
common to all, that our lives are all ordered by 
God, and shall be exactly as his eternal purpose has 
ordained them to be. 


WHAT IS THAT TO THEE? 161 

It is strange that the mind of a true Christian 
should resist a doctrine that carries with it so 
much light, and breathes into life so much signifi- 
cance, and bestows on it so much value. If our 
lives are left to mere chance, or simply to our own 
blind and feeble efforts, we may well be dis- 
couraged, for we are too short-sighted and weak 
to carry them to any great and good end. Espe- 
cially is this true of the sorrows of life. If these 
sorrows come by mere accident, and not according 
to the wise and predetermined purpose of God, 
they become tenfold more crushing, because they 
are mere aimless burdens of agony. But if they 
come by the fore-ordaining will of our heavenly 
Father, are part of his eternal plan, and all or- 
dained for gracious ends, we are able to bear the 
stroke, for though we see it not, it is designed in 
mercy and love. The same thing is true of the 
blessings of life. If they come according to no 
plan, no previous intention of God, it is hard to 
see how they can demand our gratitude. But 
coming, as all these things do, by the will and ac- 
cording to the eternal purpose of Jehovah, we see 
life invested with a high significance, because of 
the high purpose that informs it. If sorrows and 
trials come, we are cheered in bearing them by 
the thought that they are sent, not by the drifting 
of an aimless chance, but by the hand of a merci- 
ful Father. If joys are mingled in our lot, we are 


162 


THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 


grateful to him, by whose will they are thus be- 
stowed. If dark clouds hang on the horizon of 
tbe future, we can go forward with unfaltering 
courage, for we know that the future, equally with 
the past, is embraced in this eternal plan, and that 
not a hair of our heads shall fall without our 
heavenly Father. On the rushing railroad train, 
in the ship on the pathless deep, even in the dread 
roar of the battle field, there shall nothing befall 
the child of God in the path of duty, but in ac- 
cordance with the will of Jesus; and hence he can 
go forward enfolded with more than a panoply of 
steel, namely, with the protecting purpose of the 
Almighty. 

2. The Christian's life is a tarrying for the sum- 
mons home. “ If I will that he tarry." 

The world is not our home, and life to the true 
child of God is but waiting for the appointed 
change. As the soldier, the labourer, the traveller, 
all wait the expected welcome home as the solace 
for. present privations and toils, so is it with the 
Christian. W aiting, or tarrying, implies that there 
is something irksome in this position, and that 
there is a longing to depart, and be with Christ 
which is far better. But tarrying by the will of 
Christ implies that it is not an aimless thing, but 
an arrangement that is based on wise and holy 
reasons. 

It often happens that the aged, who have out- 


WHAT IS THAT TO THEE? 163 

lived all their active usefulness, and have seen 
those they love drop one by one into the grave, 
are disposed to ask, Why am I thus left behind ? 
Why am I left as a dead tree in the forest, all 
stripped and bare ? The same thought often har- 
asses the confined and helpless invalid. There is 
a feeling that the poor sick one is nothing but a 
burden, capable of giving no pleasure to those 
around, a mere useless and troublesome weight on 
those who may perhaps be wishing to be released 
from the exactions of helpless suffering ; and the 
question often will rise bitterly, Why am I, a poor 
useless thing, made to tarry here, whilst others, so 
capable of active exertion, are taken away ? 

Let not any such feelings be cherished. The 
aged Christian, though bowed with decrepitude 
and sorrow, can show how the religion of Jesus 
can sustain the weary pilgrim when all else is 
taken away, and can gild the dark horizon of life 
with the crimson and gold of a glorious sunset, 
and thus can exhibit the power of Jesus in its 
most illustrious form, and make the hoary hairs 
to hang as a crown of light on the brow of age. 
Nor is the poor invalid useless. From the sick 
room where a patient piety is enduring suffering 
with unmurmuring submission, there go forth a 
thousand gentle lessons of tenderness, of patience, 
and of charity, that not only demonstrate the power 
of Christ to sustain when all others fail, but that 


Ifi4 THE SEVENTH APPEARANCE. 

also have a direct softening influence on the heart. 
The Dairyman’s Daughter, from her sick room, has 
preached to half the world ; and though long since 
in her grave, yet like the grave of Elisha, where 
the dust of the prophet whom a lingering illness 
had borne down to the tomb, when it touched the 
dead body of a man, restored it to life, from the 
grave of Elizabeth Wallbridge, there has gone forth 
a virtue denied to many a one who like Elijah has 
gone up in a chariot of fire to heaven. Then let 
none repine, if they tarry, for they are doing the 
will of God, and home at last will be but the sweeter 
for this season of lingering on the journey. 

3. The cure of all anxieties for the future is the 
discharge of the duties of the present . “ What is 

that to thee? follow thou me.” 

The Christian life is summed up in following 
Christ. We begin it by coming to him, we con- 
tinue it by following him, we end it by going to 
him. And the answer to many of the perplexities 
that beset its entrance and ongoing is simply, Fol- 
low Jesus. Is it objected that there are difficult 
doctrines in the Bible? Follow Jesus, and they will 
be found no obstacle in the way. Is it said that 
professors of religion walk inconsistently ? Follow 
Jesus, and this inconsistency will not be in your 
way. Are there business relations that trammel ? 
Follow Jesus, and do life’s great business, and all 
these things shall be added unto you. Do you 


s 


WHAT IS THAT TO THEE? 165 

ask leave to go and bury your father ? Let the 
dead bury their dead, follow thou Jesus. Thus to 
every cavil, or excuse, the one and only reply is, 
Follow Jesus; and as you go up, the light will grow 
clearer, and what now perplexes will perplex no 
longer, and at each step in the journey, the foot- 
steps of Jesus shall irradiate the path. And when 
that' path goes down to the dark valley, even there 
his presence shall sustain, and on the other side, 
eternity shall be but a following of Jesus, for the 
Lamb shall lead us to the fountains of living waters, 
and God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes. 


166 


THE EIGHTH APPEARANCE. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

THE EIGHTH APPEARANCE — THE FIVE HUNDRED 
WITNESSES. 

I. Place of this meeting. Probably the mount of transfiguration — 
Why in Galilee. IL Importance of this meeting. Thrice predicted 
— A meeting of the whole church then on earth — Preparation for 
coming conflicts by a revelation of Christ's glory — Why some 
doubted. III. Comparative silence of scripture concerning it. 
Reason for this silence — The transfiguration, why so little alluded 
to — Meeting Jesus on earth — Meeting him hereafter in heaven. 

“ When I can read my title clear 
To mansions in the skies, 

I bid farewell to every fear, 

And wipe my weeping eyes. 

Let cares like a wild deluge come 
And storms of sorrow fall. 

May I but safely reach my home, 

My God, my heaven, my all." 

“After that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of 
whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen 
asleep." — 1 Cor. xv. 6. 

“ Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee into a mountain 
where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they 
worshipped him, but some doubted."— -Matt, xxviii. 16, 17. 

This appearance of our Lord, though a very 
important one, is but lightly touched upon in the 
New Testament, and we are left to gather its 


THE FIVE HUNDRED WITNESSES. 167 

meaning and circumstances by a careful study of 
the brief references that are made to it. There 
can be no reasonable doubt that the appearance to 
the five hundred, referred to by Paul, and the 
meeting on the mountain in Galilee, related by 
Matthew, are the same, for there is no other ap- 
pearance or meeting with which either can be con- 
nected. Hence we consider them together, and it 
will be seen that they cast light on each other 
when carefully pondered. There are several dis- 
tinct points that claim our consideration. 

I. The Place. It was a mountain in Galilee. 
What it was, or why Galilee was selected, must be 
left to conjecture. But there are reasons that sug- 
gest themselves for this meeting in Galilee rather 
than in any other region. It was in Galilee that 
Jesus spent the first thirty years of his life, in the 
obscurity of Nazareth, the obedient son, as he was 
reputed, of a lowly carpenter. It was in Cana of 
Galilee that he did his first miracle, and began his 
mighty works. It was in Galilee that he sat down 
on a mount, and delivered that wonderful sermon 
whose precepts and beatitudes, after eighteen cen- 
turies, the world is yet unable fully to meet. It 
was in Galilee that Nazareth, the home of his 
youth, and Capernaum, the home of his manhood, 
were found. It was in Galilee that the majority 
of his disciples were found, so that the very name 
Galilean became synonymous with that of a fol- 


168 THE EIGHTH APPEARANCE. 

lower of Jesus. It was also in Galilee that he 
was transfigured, and had that memorable inter- 
view with Moses and Elias, concerning which 
Jesus charged them, to “ tell the vision to no 
man, until the Son of man he risen again from the 
dead Matt. xvii. 9. 

In these words we believe there lies the clue to 
the place, the facts, and the meaning of this meet- 
ing with the five hundred. The transfiguration 
scene is connected by our Lord with something 
subsequent to his resurrection, and this meeting 
in Galilee is promised after the resurrection, as 
something of great importance, and there is really 
nothing after the resurrection to which the implied 
promise at the transfiguration can be referred, but 
this meeting with the five hundred. There is a 
remarkable silence concerning the transfiguration 
after the resurrection, difficult to explain, unless 
we suppose that it was linked with this scene as 
its great counterpart and public announcement to 
the church. If this scene is thus connected with 
the transfiguration, all becomes plain and signifi- 
cant. Other reasons for this opinion will be sug- 
gested when we come to look more narrowly at 
the actual facts of the meeting, but these general 
reasons will suggest the probability that it was 
the mount of transfiguration that was selected by 
our Lord, as the place of this great meeting. 

He knew that he had left many devoted and 


THE FIVE HUNDRED WITNESSES. 169 

sorrowing disciples in Galilee. Whilst only one 
hundred and twenty names were found in Jerusa- 
lem, more than five hundred were collected in 
Galilee, and hence Galilee was the most suitable 
place for this meeting. In Jerusalem they were 
compelled to meet in secret rooms and upper 
chambers, at night, by stealth, with locked and 
guarded doors, for fear of their enemies, and but 
a few could enjoy the privilege of seeing and 
hearing their risen Lord. In Galilee were many 
who, by reason of age, poverty, sex, or other 
causes, must have been deprived of the direct 
proof that Jesus had risen, had not this meeting 
been appointed. Hence it was called by our Lord 
on this mountain, in Galilee, where in the solitude 
of its sublime elevation, afar from the noise of 
men, they might gaze on the form of the beloved 
Master, and listen to the words of his lips. 

Tradition designates Tabor as the mount of 
transfiguration, but the facts of its populousness, 
and its distance from Capernaum, make it rather 
improbable that it was the scene of that wonder- 
ful transaction. Whatever was the precise local- 
ity, the retirement and silence of the mountain, its 
elevation and grandeur, as a spot rising up to- 
wards heaven, and purified by its breezes and 
showers, all combined to make it a suitable place 
for this remarkable meeting. And we cannot but 
think how often, since, the stricken disciples have 
15 


170 


TIIE EIGHTH APPEARANCE. 


thus met amid the mountains of Piedmont, Savoy, 
Switzerland, and Scotland, and found the glens 
and fastnesses of the rocks to be places of trans- 
figuration to their souls, where they saw the King 
in his beauty, and the land that is afar off. 

II. The importance of this meeting. 

That it was important is plain from the facts, 
that our Lord appointed it the night before he 
died ; that the angels repeated this promise to the 
women in announcing his resurrection ; and that 
he himself repeated the promise in his interview 
with them. It was therefore a meeting of great 
importance, for some reason. If we suppose no 
unusual appearance of our Lord at that time, we 
are utterly at fault in trying to discover its im- 
portance. But if we suppose a substantial repro- 
duction of the transfiguration scene, its impor- 
tance and significance are seen at a glance. 

The general ground of this importance lies in 
the fact that this “ upwards of five hundred” com- 
prised nearly, if not all, the whole body of be- 
lievers then on earth. It was Christ’s first and 
last meeting with the whole church on earth, after 
the incarnation, until he should come the second 
time, without sin, unto salvation. One reason of 
this meeting was that the clearest evidence of his 
resurrection should be given to the largest num- 
ber, enabling them to see, hear, and touch him in 
open daylight, when all ocular deception was im- 


THE FIVE HUNDRED WITNESSES. 171 

possible. This being done, the whole church 
could testify to the truth of this fundamental fact; 
and twenty years afterwards Paul was able to ap- 
peal to this testimony, and to the fact that a ma- 
jority of this five hundred were yet alive and able 
to testify that they had seen the risen Jesus. 

But this did not exhaust the meaning of this 
interview. It seems to have had another object, 
found in the fact already suggested that it was a 
kind of transfiguration. The language of Matthew 
seems to demand this supposition. He tells us 
that two very opposite effects were produced. 
Some worshipped, and some doubted. Had it 
been a mere ordinary appearance, these extraordi- 
nary effects of it are hard to explain. But if we 
suppose an extraordinary appearance, we can see 
how some would be awed into adoration, and 
others bewildered into doubt, by the august spec- 
tacle presented. As Jesus had sealed the lips of 
Peter, James, and John, until he was risen from 
the dead, it was to be expected that when thus 
risen the announcement would be made, and if 
not made here we have no record of it having 
been done for nearly half a century. But if we 
suppose that the seal was then removed, and that 
the three apostles declared that on this same spot 
they had seen the excellent glory, and heard the 
voice of the Father saying, “ This is my beloved 
Son in whom I am well pleased,” and that hence 


172 


THE EIGHTH APPEARANCE. 


this glorious and divine being, all radiant with 
the light of heaven, was truly the same lowly and 
gentle teacher that they had before known and 
loved, all becomes plain. Those who received the 
words of the apostle would fall down and worship 
him with grateful adoration as the Son of God. 
But those who were dazzled with this glory, 
might doubt whether this form of unearthly ma- 
jesty were truly the same that walked the dusty 
streets of the city, or sat at the margin of the well 
in hunger, thirst, and weariness, the “ man of sor- 
rows and acquainted with grief.” 

In the same supposed fact, we find the grand 
significance of the transaction. The first trans- 
figuration was designed to strengthen our Lord 
for “ the decease that he was to accomplish at 
Jerusalem.” The vision of heavenly glory, and 
the words of heavenly love that Moses and Elias 
brought, strengthened him by the joy that was set 
before him to endure the cross, despising the 
shame. But now he was about to depart to that 
glory, and leave his disciples to toil, trial, and 
suffering. Some of them were feeble in faith, as 
their very doubts indicate. It was then needful 
for them to have something to strengthen that 
faith, and enable them to endure the trials before 
them. What more likely to do both, than a 
glimpse of that glory which they would share, 
when called to meet him on the streets of the 


THE FIVE HUNDRED WITNESSES. 173 

heavenly city ? As they gazed on that radiant 
form, they would behold, in its heavenly beauty 
and brightness, a picture of what awaited them, 
when, after a little season of toil, this vile body 
should be made like to his glorious body, and 
they should see him as he is. Hence we cannot 
wonder that some, as they gazed, began to exult 
with rapture, and bent the knee in adoring wor- 
ship, and uttered the first notes of that song, 
which, begun on earth, is never ended in heaven ; 
whilst others, bewildered, amazed, feeling that it 
was too glorious a vision to be real, too wonderful 
a hope for such poor, perishing creatures as they, 
should doubt. But in the scene itself thus sup- 
posed, we see the wonderful love of Jesus in thus 
furnishing them so richly for the trials before 
them, by this blessed vision of the glory that 
awaited them. 

III. Another point remains to be considered, 
the comparative silence of scripture concerning .this 
important meeting. 

It is remarkable that a meeting like this, so im- 
portant that it was three times predicted, should 
not be recorded at length, whilst other meetings, 
not thus predicted, are thus recorded. It seems 
strange at first sight that Paul should allude to it, 
whilst John and James do not. 

This fact will also find its explanation in what 
has been suggested as the grand object of the meet- 
ing. Had this meeting been designed to establish 

15 * 


174 


THE EIGHTH APPEARANCE. 


facts that were for the entire church, it would have 
been recorded more minutely, and more special 
reference been given to it. But it was in some 
respects like the transfiguration, and occupies a 
similar place in the subsequent revelations of 
scripture. It is a remarkable fact, that an event 
so wonderful as that of the transfiguration, should 
have so little allusion made to it in the writings 
of the apostles. The reason of this is found in 
the fact that the great object of the transfiguration 
terminated in the mind of our Lord himself. It 
was mainly designed to prepare him for his ap- 
proaching sufferings, and having accomplished 
this end, we find but little subsequent reference to 
it. So was it also with the event before us. It 
was designed mainly to prepare the church for the 
storm that was soon to burst upon it, and to cheer 
the hearts of Christians by a vision of the glory 
that awaited them. It was not therefore necessary 
that it should be written at length in a book, for 
it was already indelibly written on the memories 
of those for whose sake it was particularly re- 
vealed. The very fact that it was enacted before 
so many witnesses, made it less necessary to put 
it on record, for the knowledge of the facts would 
be diffused sufficiently, without such a record. 
Private appearances of our Lord were sometimes 
more fully recorded, for the very reason that they 
were private, and could only be satisfactorily 
known in this way. But public appearances like 


THE FIVE HUNDRED WITNESSES. 


175 


this, whose main design was to act upon the liv- 
ing, were not fully recorded, because their very 
publicity made it less necessary to publish them 
in this way. Hence we have the simple fact that 
they happened, and nothingto satisfy mere curiosity. 

It is enough for us to know that there is a 
mount of ordinances where we too may meet 
Jesus, and see him in his glory by the eye of 
faith. As we retire from the world and ascend 
that mount, in the quiet of solitary prayer, or in 
the communings of the great congregation, we too 
may have precious glimpses of Him whom our 
souls love. And as we visit his sepulchre, we too 
may hear his promise to meet us again, not on the 
rocks and hills of Palestine, or even on the mount 
of transfiguration there ; not with the five hun- 
dred witnesses, where doubting and tears mingled 
with worship and gladness ; but on those hills 
of light that stretch away over the heavenly Ca- 
naan ; in that city that hath no need of the sun or 
the moon to enlighten it, and among the ten 
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of 
thousands, that stand round t'he throne ; where all 
tears shall be wiped away, all sorrow forgotten, 
and where we shall sing the song of eternal victory 
through Him that loved us, and gave himself for 
us. Let us prepare for this glorious meeting, for 
he has gone before us, not into Galilee, but into 
heaven. 


176 


THE NINTH APPEARANCE. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

THE NINTH APPEARANCE — JAMES THE LORD’S 
BROTHER. 

The three Jameses — James the Just, the brother of our Lord — His 
character by Hegesippus — Apocryphal traditions — His childhood 
and Nazaritic dedication — Not a disciple of Jesus at first — His po- 
sition in the church — The significance of this appearance to 
him — The silence of scripture — General teachings. 

“ Till God in human flesh I see, 

My thoughts no comfort find, 

The holy, just, and sacred Three, 

Are terrors to my mind. 

While Jews on their own law rely, 

And Greeks of wisdom boast, 

I love the incarnate mystery, 

And there I fix my trust.” 

“ After that he was seen of James.” 1 Cor. xv. 7. 

There are several persons mentioned in the 
New Testament under the name of James. The most 
prominent in the gospels is James the son of 
Zebedee and brother of John, who was the first 
martyr among the apostles. There was another 
James among the twelve, called James, the son of 
Alpheus, who is called in one place, (Mark xv. 
40,) James the less, alluding to inferiority of age or 
of stature to the son of Zebedee. There is mention 


JAMES, THE LORD’S BROTHER. 177 

in the Epistles and Gospels, of James the brother 
of our Lord, and it is a very difficult question to 
determine whether he is the same person called the 
son of Alpheus, or another. Neander pronounces 
this one of the most difficult questions in apostolic 
' history. The more probable opinion is that he was 
different from the son of Alpheus, and was not 
one of the twelve apostles, nor indeed, in the first 
instance, a follower of Jesus at all. In John vii. 
5, it is stated that “ neither did his brethren believe 
in him and in Matt. xiii. 55, and Mark vi. 3, James 
is mentioned as one of the brethren of our Lord, 
and the mode in which they are named seems to in- 
timate that they were not at that time his avowed 
disciples. Our Lord confirms this where he says, 
(Matt. xiii. 57,) “A prophet is not without honour, 
save in his own country, and in his own house." 
Hence the conclusion that seems most probable 
is, that James the brother of our Lord, was dis- 
tinct from the son of Alpheus, was not one of 
the twelve apostles, nor indeed a disciple of Jesus 
at all during the early part of his ministry, but 
became one before his death; and afterwards, 
(whether strictly an apostle or not, may be doubt- 
ful,) was an apostolic man of great eminence, the 
Moderator of the first Synod in Jerusalem, first 
pastor of the church there, and author of the 
Epistle that bears his name. It was undoubtedly 
to this James that our Lord appeared, for he is the 


178 THE NINTH APPEARANCE. 

only one mentioned by Paul in his epistles, and is 
expressly called (Gral. i. 19) “ the brother of the 
Lord.” By gathering the scattered rays of light 
that are left regarding him, we may obtain some 
notion of the object of this appearance. 

We have, from traditional sources, some facts 
that are reliable about James, and others that are 
obviously mixed with fable. He is called James 
the Just, because of the saintly austerity of his 
character, an austerity so high and spotless as to 
exact the reverence of the Jewish people to a very 
great degree. Hegesippus, a Jewish Christian of 
the second century, tells us that James led, from 
his youth, a life of the most exemplary strictness. 
He states that he was holy from his mother’s 
womb ; that no razor ever came on his head ; that 
he never anointed himself with oil, nor used the 
bath ; that he wore no woollen, but only linen 
clothes, like the priests ; that he only of the Chris- 
tians was allowed to enter the holy of holies, and 
that he was so much in the temple on his knees, 
in prayer for his people, that his knees became 
hard like a camel’s, and that he was called Obliam, 
the bulwark of the people. (Eusebius, Ecc. Hist. ii. 
23.) He further assures us that he was martyred, 
about A. D. 69, by being cast from the pinnacle 
of the temple, and stoned by the Pharisees, crying 
with his latest breath, “ I pray thee, Lord God, 
Father, forgive them I for they know not what they 


JAMES, THE LORD’S BROTHER. 179 

do.” Eusebius adds that some of the most intell- 
igent of the Jews believed that the destruction of 
Jerusalem took place soon after because of his 
cruel murder. 

The apocryphal gospel to the Hebrews men- 
tions this appearance of our Lord to James, but 
mingles it with evident fable. It states that, “After 
Jesus had given the shroud to the servant of the 
high priest, he went to James. James had made 
a vow, after partaking of the bread given by 
Christ at the last supper, that he would eat no 
more until he had seen Jesus risen from the dead 
Jesus coming to him, had a table with bread 
brought out, blessed the bread, and gave it to 
James, with the words, ‘Eat thy bread now, my 
brother, since the Son of Man has risen from the 
dead.’” This is evidently fabulous, for it makes 
our Lord appear to an unbeliever, and appear 
very soon after his resurrection to James ; whereas 
the gospels never allude to any appearance made 
to an unbeliever, and Paul directly asserts that the 
appearance to James was after that to the five 
hundred, and hence after the first eight appear- 
ances, which carries us onward near the close of 
the forty days. But it shows the early conviction 
of the church that it was to this James that the 
appearance was made, and that it was with a pur- 
pose of kindness to him that it was done. 

Looking at all these facts, we are able to gather 


180 


THE NINTH APPEARANCE. 


a very distinct notion of this austere and saintly 
man — of his history and character, of his place 
in the apostolic church, and of the reason why our 
Lord afforded to him, as he did to Peter and 
Thomas, a special interview. 

It is not necessary to discuss the question 
whether James was the son of Joseph by a former 
marriage, or the son of Mary, and the full brother 
of our Lord. It would seem that he was dedicated 
from the womb by a Nazaritic vow. Perhaps the 
peculiar circumstances connected with the birth 
of Jesus, and John the Baptist, led to this solemn 
dedication of James. Being thus devoted to God, 
his education was peculiarly Jewish, and he grew 
up with an intense devotion to the Mosaic law. 
This rigid Judaism made the peculiar doctrines 
of Jesus distasteful to him, and prevented him 
from believing that Jesus was the Christ. He 
could not at first see how the man who ate with 
publicans and sinners, could be the holy one of 
God ; or how one whom he had known in child- 
hood and youth, and even in manhood, as the 
humble, lowly son of the carpenter, could be the 
illustrious Son of David, and the glorious King, 
who was expected to deliver the people of Israel. 
How long this state of disbelief continued, we 
are unable to determine. Indeed we do not know 
that he became fully a disciple of the Lord, until 
after this interview, or that this was not the means 


JAMES, THE LORD’S BROTHER. 181 

employed by our Lord to cause his conversion. 
But as all the other persons to whom Jesus ap- 
peared after the resurrection were believers, and 
as the general belief of the early Christian writers 
is in favour of an earlier conversion, the proba- 
bility is that he believed in the claims of our 
Lord before the crucifixion, and only needed such 
confirmation of his faith, and such correction of 
his views, as would be afforded by this interview. 

After the day of pentecost, he occupied a most im- 
portant position in the Christian church, and one for 
which his previous history peculiarly fitted him. 
He was the representative of the extreme Jewish 
element in the church. This appears from the 
fact that the judaizing disciples in Antioch, who 
caused Peter to dissemble, (Gal. ii. 12, 13,) are 
called “ certain that came from James.” That they 
pushed his principles too far, is almost certain, 
but the fact that they claimed James as their 
leader shows his position in this matter. As Paul 
represented the extreme Gentile ground, Peter an 
intermediate one, so James seems to have been the 
representative of the extreme Jewish ground, and 
thus to have been qualified to act as a mediator 
between Jews and Christians. His strict obser- 
vance of the Jewish law, and his almost ascetic 
purity of life, commanded for him the full confi- 
dence of the most bigoted Jews, whilst he had al- 
ready that of the Christians. It was perhaps for 
’ 16 


182 THE NINTH APPEARANCE. 

this reason that he acted as the chief spokesman 
in the first synod, which declared that the obser- 
vance of the Mosaic law was not obligatory on the 
Gentiles. His opinion would be of decisive 
weight with the judaizing part of the church. 
And it was in the same wise spirit of compromise 
that he advised Paul (Acts xxi. 20-25) to purify 
himself according to the law in the case of vows, 
in order that he might not offend the prejudices 
of the Jewish multitude. He was thus a transi- 
tion link between the two dispensations, and pre- 
sented to the Jews the best possible form of the 
Christian faith for their acceptance and approval. 
It was in special kindness to them that such a type 
of Christianity was presented to them, for by it 
their introduction to the truth in Jesus was made 
peculiarly easy. In James they saw that the most 
blameless reverence for Moses was no barrier to 
the reception of Christ, and if unable with such 
a type of Old Testament piety to receive New 
Testament truth, there remained no further possi- 
ble means. Hence James did not itinerate, like 
the other apostles, as far as we can learn, but re- 
mained in Jerusalem, where he could most readily 
have access to the Jews. When he had laboured 
in person for some time, he sent forth the epistle 
that bears his name, ‘-to the twelve tribes scattered 
abroad,” (James i. 1,) thus confirming the fact that 
his mission .was one mainly to the Jews. Nor did 


JAMES, THE LORD’S BROTHER. 183 

his life continue beyond the period when this mis- 
sion could be fulfilled. He is alleged to have 
been martyred nearly forty years after the erection 
of the Christian church, and shortly before the 
downfall of Jerusalem, after which event the Jews 
became generally so hostile to Christianity that but 
few conversions took place among them. Hence 
his great work seems to have been to gather the 
elect remnant of the Jewish church into the 
Christian, and thus bring in “ the children of the 
kingdom,” and for this work it is plain that he 
was specially fitted in every respect. 

It is here that we may find the meaning of this 
appearance. If James were then a disciple at all, 
it is probable that his faith before this time was 
clouded with Jewish prejudices. He did not see 
clearly the truth as it was in Jesus. It was therefore 
needful that our Lord should appear to him, and 
by confirming his faith in the most immovable 
manner, by enlarging his knowledge of the great 
plan of salvation, and by giving him such visions 
of the future as he needed, prepare him for 
the great work he was to do in the Christian 
church, and the self-denials and sufferings that 
were necessarily connected with that work. As 
the representative of the religion of Christ to the 
Jews, as the first pastor of the church in Jerusalem, 
the Moderator of the first General Synod of the 
church, the adviser and guide of Paul, and the 


184 


THE NINTH APPEARANCE. 


writer of a canonical epistle, he needed both a 
firm faith and an intelligent one, and to give him 
both, our Lord granted him a special interview. 
Hence this personal and private appearance had 
the same general character with those to Peter, 
the men of Emmaus, and Thomas, and presents 
our Lord in the same beautiful light of condescen- 
sion to infirmity, and kindness to imperfection that 
is exhibited in the others. The result was 
the same as in the other cases ; this stern 
and high-hearted child of Abraham from that 
time never faltered in his confession of Christ, 
until he sealed that confession with his blood. 

It is worthy of remark also, that the precise 
communications made at that time are not record- 
ed in scripture. The general reason is the same as 
in the previous cases. The main purpose of the 
interview was to terminate with James himself, 
and to affect others only in an indirect manner 
through him. Hence only the fact of its occur- 
rence is mentioned. We would gladly in this 
case, and in the appearance to the five hundred, 
approach nearer the scene itself, and gaze on its 
wonderful sights, and listen to its wonderful 
words. But the scripture never satisfies mere 
curiosity. It reveals just what is needful, and no 
more. Indeed its silence is often more signifi- 
cant than speech. There is a sublime reserve in 
regard to many things which proves its divine ori- 


JAMES, THE LORD’S BROTHER. 185 

gin more fully than any words could do. There 
are many facts above and before us that to our 
present minds are as utterly incomprehensible as 
the Oberland Alps to a fish in the sea, and the 
very attempt to reveal them would indicate an ig- 
norance and weakness that would disprove any di- 
vine origin in the book that made it. “ It doth 
not yet appear what we shall be,” and the things 
that Paul saw in paradise were “ unutterable.” 
Hence the silence of the Bible concerning these 
points, standing in such marked contrast with the 
detailed minuteness of all spurious revelations, is 
a striking proof that it is from that God, whose 
glory lies much more in what has not been re- 
vealed, than in what has ; for the revealed is finite, 
whilst the unrevealed is infinite. The silence of 
scripture in this case of James, is then only in ac- 
cordance with a general law that stamps it as a 
revelation from God. 

The general teaching of this appearance is sub- 
stantially the same with some of the others, and 
hence need not be elaborated. It assures us that 
when God calls a man to a special work, he will 
give him a special preparation ; that when Jesus 
intends to use us for any peculiar service or suf- 
fering in the history of the church, he will give us 
such a manifestation of himself, as will fit us to do 
and to suffer his holy will ; and that the very im- 
perfections of human opinion and human charac- 
16 * 


186 


TIIE NINTH APPEARANCE. 


ter may be used in the work of redemption to ac- 
complish ends that a more absolute perfection 
might fail to reach ; and that the books that eter- 
nity shall open for our perusal contain the so- 
lution of many a mystery that has baffled us here 
on earth. 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MATTHEW. 187 


CHAPTER XV. 

THE TENTH APPEARANCE — THE APOSTOLIC 
COMMISSION IN MATTHEW. 

The place, Jerusalem and Olivet — The four forms of the commission 
— Why? — Their distinctness — Meaning of the commission — Not the 
original authority to preach and baptize. I. Authority of the com- 
mission. The mediatorial kingdom of Christ — All power. II. The 
commission. (1) To make disciples. (2) To baptize disciples — Sub- 
jects of baptism — Baptismal formula — Trinity. (3) To teach disci- 
ples — Inspiration — The three offices of Christ. III. Encourage- 
ment. The presence of Christ — I am — "A ll days ” — Days of wor- 
ship, of toil, of trial, and of death. 

" Oh thou who mournest on thy way, 

With longings for the close of day. 

He walks with thee, that angel kind, 

And gently whispers, * Be resigned f 
Bear up — bear on — the end shall tell, 

The dear Lord ordereth all things well.” 

"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given 
unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I 
have commanded you, and lo ! I am with you alway, even unto the 
end of the world. Amen.” — Matt, xxviii. 18 — 20. 

We now reach the last, and in some respects the 
most important, appearance of our Lord to his dis- 
ciples. The place of its occurrence was partly 


188 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


Jerusalem, and partly the mount of Olives. The 
probability is, that like the other appearances in 
Jerusalem, it was by night, and being the last in- 
terview that they were to have on earth, that it 
was prolonged through the entire night ; and as 
the morning began to break over the eastern hills, 
that they went forth by that familiar path, so often 
trodden, across the Kedron, past Gethsemane, with 
its wondrous memories, up the mount of Olives, 
whence the city could be seen, bathed in the light 
of the early morning, over the summit of the 
mount, until they reached that quiet and sheltered 
spot overhanging Bethany, whence he “ ascended 
on high, leading captivity captive.” If these 
conjectures be true, and they seem to be demanded 
by the different records of this last interview, 
there were many instructions given by our Lord 
that have not been recorded by the evangelists. 
Each one has recorded what was necessary for the 
purposes of his gospel, and each one differs in 
some respects from the rest. 

A neglect of these facts has led to some errors 
in the interpretation of the recorded words of the 
gospels. Regarding them as perhaps but a single 
utterance of our Lord, it has been thought neces- 
sary to weave them into a continuous discourse, 
and thus make a harmony of them, an effort that 
does violence to some of the sentences in a most 
palpable manner. But if we remember that the 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MATTHEW. 189 


interview was probably protracted through an en- 
tire night, that he appeared to them perhaps dur- 
ing their evening meal, and blessed and brake the 
bread before them, and continued for several hours 
to instruct them in the things pertaining to the king- 
dom, and prolonged these instructions during the 
long walk from the upper chamber to the scene of 
the ascension on the eastern slope of the mount of 
Olives, we will see that very much must have 
been said by him, and that each evangelist must 
make only a selection for the particular purposes 
of his gospel. Hence instead of attempting to 
make a harmony of these records, which usually 
makes a confusion of them, we prefer to take them 
just as they are given ; believing that there was a 
reason for the variations, which requires that each 
record should be considered apart from the others, 
and not in forced amalgamation with them as is 
commonly done. 

The ultimate reasons for the different forms in 
which we find the apostolic commission recorded, 
will probably be found to coincide with the ulti- 
mate reasons for the different gospels in which they 
are written. What these reasons are must be left 
in some measure, to conjecture. That there were 
satisfactory reasons requiring that the life of our 
Lord should be recorded in four gospels, instead 
of one, must be conceded by all, and probably the 
same reasons required four records of the apos- 


190 


THE TENTH APPEAEANCE. 


tolic commission. There are some facts that 
present themselves to us very clearly in regard to 
these gospels. The general impression of the 
church has always been, that Matthew wrote for 
the Hebrews, Mark, for the Latins, and Luke, for 
the Greeks, whilst John wrote with a wider imme- 
diate scope, and at a later date, and hence presented 
the final facts that were needed to supplement the 
rest. There seems to be no good reason for set- 
ting aside these opinions. The Hebrews, Romans, 
and Greeks, were the three great representative 
nations of that day, and embodied the ideas of 
theology, law, and literature, in which they were 
then severally pre-eminent, each in its peculiar 
department. Through the Hebrew people, we have 
received all that is most valuable to us in religious 
truth ; through the Romans, all that is most per- 
manent in political organization and legal forms ; 
and through the Greeks, all that is consummate in 
literature, philosophy, and art. It was but a shad- 
owing forth of these facts that was presented in 
the inscription on the cross, that was written in 
the Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, the languages of 
these representative peoples. But there was a 
fourth kingdom then set up, the kingdom of the 
Incarnate Word, and the dispensation of the Holy 
Ghost ; and the great peculiarities of this kingdom 
are presented in their deepest forms in the fourth 
gospel by John, whilst the paramount agency of 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MATTHEW. 191 

the Spirit is acknowledged in the fourth form of the 
commission as it is recorded in Acts of the Apostles, 
a book that has sometimes been called the gospel 
of the Holy Ghost. 

We find in each of the four records the precise 
peculiarities that mark the gospel in which it is 
found. The commission in Matthew presents the 
mediatorial dominion of Christ, the divinity of 
Jesus, the Trinity, the organic unity and functions 
of the church, and the doctrine of baptism ; all which 
great religious ideas were needful to be presented to 
the Hebrew mind, as we learn from their elaborate 
presentation in the epistle to the Hebrews. The com- 
mission in Mark is brief, terse, and sententious, like 
a decree of the Roman Senate, and uses the word gos- 
pel, and presents the great doctrine of justification 
by faith, which we find so fully set forth in the epis- 
tle to the Romans. The forms in Luke and the Acts, 
in like manner, as will be more fully shown here- 
after, present precisely the doctrines and facts that we 
would infer from the apparent design of each book. 
Hence to fuse these different promulgations of the 
commission into a single continuous statement is to 
lose their peculiar significance, and defeat the pur- 
pose of the record. 

Another preliminary question demands our 
consideration. What was the precise purpose of 
the apostolic commission ? The opinion that is 
very prevalently held, is, that it conveyed the ori- 


192 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


ginal authority of the apostles to preach and bap- 
tize, and hence contains the full and authoritative 
statement of the subjects and limitations of both 
these duties of their office. But a little reflection 
will show the error of this view. The ordination 
and consequent authority to preach and baptize 
had been given long before, but restricted to the 
Jews, and restricted as to the fulness of the truth 
presented. The record of this transaction will be 
found in the three evangelists, Matthew x. 1-23 ; 
Mark iii. 13-19 ; and Luke vi. 13-16. In these 
passages it is stated that he “ordained twelve that 
they should be with him, and that he might send 
them forth to preach,” (Mark iii. 14,) and that he 
forbade them to preach to the Gentiles and Samar- 
itans, requiring them to go only “ to the lost sheep 
of the house of Israel,” (Matt. x. 5, 6.) That they 
also baptized is evident from John iii. 22-26; and 
iv. 1, 2, where it is expressly stated, in reference to 
a very early period of our Lord’s ministry, that his 
disciples baptized. Hence the authority to baptize 
must have been conferred with the authority to 
preach, and have had the same restrictions to the 
house of Israel. Both the preaching and baptism 
had reference to the new form of dispensation 
that was to be given to the church, and both were 
restricted to the Jews until that dispensation was 
fully ushered in. Here was the original ordina- 
tion of the apostles, and their commission to 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MATTHEW. 193 


preach and baptize, and their authority dates from 
this point, and not from this last interview of our 
Lord. 

What then was the purport of this apostolic 
commission, so called, that was given at this final 
interview ? It was simply the authority to do 
that to all nations, which they had hitherto been 
directed to confine to the Jews, and the announce- 
ment of the final and perfect form of the kingdom 
of heaven, as a. way of salvation for sinners. 
They had preached to and baptized only the Jews 
hitherto, now they were to preach to and baptize 
all nations. 

This will be unanswerably evident from a sim- 
ple comparison of the four forms of the commiss- 
ion. Had they been the original authority to 
preach and baptize, we would find this in- 
cluded in each form of the commission; but the 
facts are that two of them omit all reference to 
baptism at all, and the only point in which they 
all agree is the one mentioned, that this commiss- 
ion previously given was now extended from one 
nation to all nations. To exhibit this we present 
the four forms together for comparison, italicising 
the only thing common to all. 

Matthew xxviii. 18-20. — “ All power is given 
unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, thereforo, 
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; 

17 


194 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I 
have commanded you, and lo ! I am with you al- 
way, even to the end of the world. Amen.” 

Mark xvi. 15-18. — “ And he said unto them, Go 
ye into all the world , and preach the gospel to 
every creature. He that belie veth and is baptized 
shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be 
damned. And these signs shall follow them that 
believe : In my name shall they cast out devils ; 
they shall speak with new tongues ; they shall 
take up serpents ; and if they drink any deadly 
thing, it shall not hurt them ; they shall lay hands 
on the sick, and they shall recover.” 

Luke xxiv. 44-49. — “ And he said unto them, 
These are the words which I spake unto you, 
while I was yet with you, that all things must be 
fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, 
and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning 
me. Then opened he their understanding, that 
they might understand the scriptures, and said 
unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved 
Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third 
day: and that repentance and remission of sins 
should be preached in his name among all nations , 
beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses 
of these things. And, behold, I send the promise 
of my Father upon you : but tarry ye in the city 
of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from 
on high.” 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MATTHEW. 195 

Acts i. 4-8. — And being assembled together 
with them, commanded them that they should not 
depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise 
of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of 
me : for John truly baptized with water ; but ye 
shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many 
days hence. When they therefore were come to- 
gether, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou 
at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel ? 
And he said unto them, It is not for you to know 
the times or the seasons which the Father hath 
put in his own power. But ye shall receive power 
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you : and 
ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, 
and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the 
uttermost part of the earth." 

Here it will be seen that the only point com- 
mon to all these forms is that of extension to all 
nations, showing that this was the essential fact 
in the commission, and that it was not the pri- 
mary grant to preach and baptize, but a simple 
extension of the authority to perform these acts, 
before given and restricted to one nation, now to 
be carried to all nations, because the church with 
which these functions were connected was now to 
be extended in the same manner. 

We are now prepared to consider the form of 
the commission given us in the gospel of Matthew, 
where we have the authority of the commission, 


196 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


the commission itself, and the encouragements 
given to those who were to execute it. 

I. The authority of the commission . “All power 
is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” 

The word here rendered power* means strictly 
authority, or the right to exercise power. Hence 
it is not omnipotence that our Lord here claims 
for himself. This power, he says, was “ given” to 
him, which could not be said of omnipotence, for 
that is incommunicable, and could not have been 
given to any finite being ; and moreover belonged 
to him by nature, so that it was not needful that 
it should have been given. 

The power or authority here referred to is that 
which was bestowed upon him as Mediator, for 
the purpose of executing the great plan of redemp- 
tion. The divine nature of the Sob bad no be- 
ginning, being eternal; but that mysterious person- 
ality, in which the divine and human natures 
were united in the Mediatorial person, the God- 
man, this had a beginning, and was capable of re- 
ceiving grants of authority. That such a grant 
was made appears not only from this statement, 
but from the memorable passage in Philippians, 
(c. ii. 5-11.) It is there stated that as a reward of 
the sufferings of Jesus, God exalted him and gave 
him a name — i. e ., an authority, or office — above 


* ’Efotma. 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MATTHEW. 197 

every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, and every tongue acknowledge him 
Lord. Here is a specific grant of official authority 
as a consequence of his sufferings, that is obvi- 
ously the same referred to by our Lord in this 
declaration in Matthew. It is a delegated king- 
ship over the universe, which is granted to him as 
Mediator, for the purpose of subduing the rebel- 
lion of sin, and which he will hold until that re- 
bellion is subdued, when he will deliver it up 
again to the Father. This is the express assur- 
ance of scripture. After the resurrection and 
final judgment, “Then cometh the end, when he 
shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even 
the Father, when he shall have put down all rule, 
and all authority, and power. And when all 
things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the 
Son also himself be subject unto him that put all 
things under him, that God may be all in all.” 
1 Cor. xv. 24-28. 

Here we have announced to us the sublime fact, 
that the universe is now under the Mediatorial do- 
minion of Jesus, for the purpose of subduing sin. 
That great revolt, which began in heaven and was 
transferred to earth, is to be put down by the Son. 
For this purpose he assumed human nature, and 
became a new and wonderful person — a person 
capable of suffering and obeying, by virtue of its 
human element, and of atoning and reigning, by 
17 * 


198 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


virtue of its Divine : and to this person is delega- 
ted the rule of the universe until the economy 
of redemption is completed. Heaven, earth, and 
hell, are all put in subjection to him, that he may 
redeem men on earth, and saving them from hell, 
exalt them to heaven, and thus bring the universe 
back to more than its former allegiance. Hence 
the economy of God’s government now is not 
what it was before sin entered, or what it will be 
after the mystery of redemption is finished, under 
the rule of the Father alone. It is under the 
Mediatorial regency of the Immanuel, the God- 
man Mediator, and will be so until the mighty 
plan of redemption is completed. Hence is it 
that in heaven angels and redeemed ones behold 
and worship “ a Lamb slain in the midst of the 
throne;” and that from hell, the very devils be- 
seech him that they may not be tormented before 
the time. And hence is it that the sublime as- 
surance is given by Paul to the Christian, “ All 
things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or 
Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things 
present, or things to come, all are yours, for ye 
are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” 1 Cor. iii. 21-28. 
Hence we have the great fact laid down, as the 
basis of all ministerial authority, that the world 
belongs to Jesus ; it has been granted to him as 
Mediator, and all men are bound to acknowledge 
him in this character, and bow to his kingly au- 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MATTHEW. 199 


thority. All agencies, natural and supernatural, are 
placed in his hand to secure this ultimate recog- 
nition. All powers are subordinated to him, so that 
he has not only the right to command the obedience 
of all men, but also the power to secure that 
obedience in whatever way he may deem best. 
This kingly authority then is the real and fitting 
ground on which the commission is rested, by 
which the apostles were to go forth and summon 
the submission of all nations. 

II. The commission itself. Go ye therefore, and 
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost ; teaching them to observe all things what- 
soever I have commanded you.” 

The general purport of this commission has 
been already explained. The church was now to 
be extended to all nations, and hence the right to 
preach and baptize, before restricted to the Jews, 
was now extended to all the world. The commis- 
sion includes three particulars. They were to go 
forth among all nations, and (1) make disciples , 
(2) baptize the disciples thus made, and (3) teach the 
disciples thus baptized the whole counsel of God, 
as revealed by our Lord Jesus Christ. 

1. They were to make disciples from all nations . 
The word here rendered “ teach ” means liter- 
ally, and properly, to “ make disciples,” and is 
distinct from the word “ teach.” The precise idea 


200 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


conveyed in it is expressed fully in John iv. 1, 
“ The Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and 
baptized more disciples than John.” Here to 
make disciples is obviously not to teach them, but 
simply to cause them in some way publicly to en- 
roll themselves as his disciples, and in consequence 
of that discipleship to be baptized. In the com- 
mission, this making disciples and baptizing, before 
limited to the Jews, was extended to all nations. 
The teaching was to come after they had been 
made disciples. To render this word by teaching 
alone, is to make our Lord command the disciples 
to go and, teach all nations, teaching them, a tau- 
tology that ought not to be charged on his words. 
Hence the true meaning of the word is making 
disciples* 

How they are to be made disciples must of 
course depend on the character of the persons 
themselves. The great fact is that they are to be 

* That this meaning of the word is not adopted from any doc- 
trinal preferences, will appear from the fact that it is preferred by 
critics who cannot be suspected of any such preferences. Kuinoel, 
who is surely safe from any such suspicion, says, on v. 19, 
“ naOrjreveiv is not to teach, for it is clearly distinguished from 
Stdcunceiv v. 20, and they who by baptism were received into the 
company of Christians, were afterwards more accurately in- 
structed. It simply denotes “ to make a disciple, to receive into the 
company of Christians.” Bengel makes the same distinction, 
“ ixadrirsvetv is to make disciples, and embraces baptism and teach- 
ing.” Other testimonies equally explicit could readily be given 
from Olshausen, Stier, and others. 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MAPTHEW. 201 

made disciples, brought into the relation of pro- 
fessed and acknowledged learners from the great 
Teacher, and led to him as the only way of access 
to God. Christ stands at the threshold of the 
kingdom of God, and must be acknowledged be- 
fore an entrance can be made to its inner blessings. 
In this acknowledgment we have a recognition 
of the prophetic office of Christ, when we come 
and cleave to him as disciples, to learn the will of 
God for our salvation. 

2. They were to baptize the disciples thus made. 
It is impossible for us to gather any full account 
of either the nature or subjects of baptism from 
this commission. It was not the design of our 
Lord to do this, nor was it necessary, as they had 
already no doubt received full information on 
these points when they were first ordained. The 
law here announced is that all who are made dis- 
ciples are to be baptized. The question as to the 
proper subjects of baptism is simply, Who are ca- 
pable of being made disciples? Can any be con- 
stituted disciples by birth, and entered into the 
school of Christ by the act of their parents ? Is 
the kingdom of Christ only a school for the adult 
disciple, or is it also a training institute for the 
youthful disciple? We believe, that like the 
family, and the state, it was designed by God to 
be an educational institute for the young, as well 
as for the old, and that this is one of its most pre- 


202 THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 

cious features. The lambs are entrusted to the 
shepherd as well as the sheep, and belong to the 
flock as truly as they do. So the children of be- 
lieving parents are made disciples as truly as the 
parents themselves, and as such have a right to 
the same ordinance of recognition and initiation. 

The baptismal formula is one of the deepest 
significance. It is required that the disciples of 
Jesus shall be baptized into the name of the Fa- 
ther, Son, and Holy Ghost. What is the meaning 
of this ? It is not merely by their authority, for 
the words indicate much more than that. The 
meaning of the phrase is, that by the baptism 
there is signed and sealed a close and vital rela- 
tion to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, each of 
whom performs a part in the work of salvation. 
The outward application of water is a symbol of 
purification from sin, and this being done into the 
name of the Trinity, it is thus declared that each 
person of that mysterious nature bears a part in 
this great work of salvation, and that the person 
baptized is brought into a relation of the deepest 
obligation to them all. Baptism is then a public 
avowal that the person baptized is devoted to the 
Triune God, through the atoning work of Jesus 
Christ, who, as the great High Priest, has- made a 
perfect sacrifice, and thus opened a way of access 
to God. 

The baptismal formula is an assertion of the 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MATTHEW. 203 

doctrine of the Trinity that no ingenuity can set 
aside. It is very certain that the Father is a per- 
son, and the Son a person, and hence it must fol- 
low that the Holy Ghost also is a person, and thus 
we have three persons presented to us. But these 
three are in another sense one, for but one Name 
is ascribed to them. If they were distinct natures 
as well as distinct persons, baptism would have 
been in their names, and not their name. But 
there is ascribed to the three only a single Name, 
which here, as elsewhere, denotes the essence of the 
Being to whom it is attached. This fact proves 
that whilst in personal distinctions they are three, 
so that personal names and actions may be ascribed 
to each, yet in essence and nature they are one, so 
that but a single Name can be rightly ascribed to 
this mysterious and adorable Nature. Hence we 
have here the proclamation of the ineffable Name 
of that great Being, who appeared to the Patri- 
archs as the Almighty God, the Elohim ; to the 
chosen seed, as Jehovah, the I AM of his own peo- 
ple ; but to those who live under the third great 
dispensation of the covenant, as the Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost, three persons, but one God — three 
persons, the same in substance, but equal in power 
and glory. This however is the doctrine of the 
Trinity. 

3. They were to teach the disciples thus baptized , all 
that Jesus commanded them. “ Teaching them to 


204 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


observe all things whatsoever I have commanded 
you.” 

These words imply a promise of plenary inspi- 
ration, for they constitute the apostles the vehicles 
through which the commands of Jesus are to be 
transmitted to us. Now as these commands are 
to be kept on pain of the most fearful condemn- 
ation, we cannot conceive it possible that our 
Lord would not secure a transmission of them 
that would be infallible. To ordain a law, the 
violation of which involves the severest penalty, 
and yet make no provision for the certain and infal- 
lible record of that law, would be a refinement of 
cruelty that can never be charged on the king- 
dom of Christ. Hence we have here a formal 
investiture of the apostles with that high function 
of conveying Christ’s words to the world in speech 
and writing, from which we have the inspired 
scriptures of the New Testament. 

We have here presented to us the great function 
of the ministry. It is to teach the world all things 
that Christ has commanded. It is not to teach 
systems of politics, of philosophy, or of art, but to 
teach the commands of Christ in all the forms in 
which he has delivered them, to preach the gospel, 
unmingled with either the frozen traditions of the 
past, or the fiery fanaticisms of the present. 

We have in these three clauses of the apostolic 
commission a recognition of the three offices which 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MATTHEW. 205 

Christ executes as our Redeemer. When men are 
“made disciples,” there is recognized his Pro- 
phetic office, by which he is the great Teacher of 
the will of God for the salvation of men. When 
they are “ baptized as disciples,” unto remission of 
sins, there is a recognition of his Priestly office, 
by which this remission is purchased and ap- 
plied, and through which the gift of the sanctify- 
ing Spirit was procured and sent into the world. 
When they are “ taught as disciples,” to observe 
all the commands of Christ, there is an acknow- 
ledgment of his Kingly office, by virtue of which 
he has the right to command, and we are bound to 
obey all that he has thus commanded. Thus 
Christ is set forth in all the wondrous and mani- 
fold riches of his character and offices, as the great 
subject of gospel preaching, the great object of 
gospel faith, and the great end of gospel obedience. 
Men in their ignorance must be led to him to 
know the way of approach to God ; in their guilt, 
to receive forgiveness and acceptance; and in 
their weakness to receive strength and guidance; 
so that Christ must be to them the Alpha and 
Omega, the centre and circumference of a complete 
and full-orbed piety. 

IIL We have the encouragement given to those 
who are to execute this commission. “ Lo 1 I am 
with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” 

The encouragement is the perpetual presence 

18 


206 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


of Christ. We are prone to think of Jesus as a 
being of eighteen hundred years ago, or at least 
as a resident in heaven, and to attach the idea of 
distance and separation to him. This prevents us 
from feeling his influence with that real and living 
power that ought to accompany it. When we 
think of one as dead or distant, we cease to feel 
his personal power as we do when we think of 
him as near and living. Hence it is that our 
Lord assures us that he is neither dead nor dis- 
tant, but near us, with us, and with us at all 
times and places of the future. 

There are two peculiarities of expression here 
that deserve notice. The first is fhe mode in 
which he speaks of his presence. He does not 
say, I will be with you always, but lam with you, 
developing thus the fact that he spake as the 
Divine Redeemer, that eternal and self-existent 
Being, to whom there is neither future nor past, 
but one unchanging, eternal now. The promise 
to be with them always to the end of the world, 
implies that it was not addressed to them as indi- 
viduals merely, but as representatives of the 
church, for they were not to live always, to the 
end of the world. This proves at once the per- 
petuity of the church, and the divinity pf the 
Saviour. If he is to be with his church to the 
end of the world, the church shall exist to that 
time, and hence be perpetual. If he is to be with 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MATTHEW. 207 


Lis people scattered through all ages and lands, at 
all times, he must be omnipresent, and therefore 
divine. Hence we have two implied claims of at- 
tributes belonging to God alone in these words, 
proving that he who uttered them was the Incar- 
nate Word, “God manifest in the flesh,” “ God 
over all, blessed for ever.” 

The second peculiarity of phrase here is the 
words rendered “ alway,” which are literally “ all 
days, ” not merely always, but all kinds of 
days, that were before them — days of light and 
of shadow, sunshine and storm, heat and cold, all 
the varying days of their destiny his presence 
should be with them ; a pillar of cloud, when the 
heat and burden of the day came pouring down 
in a pressure of toil and sorrow ; a pillar of fire, 
when cloud and darkness gathered over the path, 
giving cheer and guidance when all other 
lights had gone out ; the shadow of a great rpck 
in a weary land, when the sun beat fiercely on 
their heads ; and a covert from the tempest, “ when 
the blast of the terrible ones is a storm against 
the wall.” 

But what is the nature of this presence? It is 
not simply the presence of the Holy Spirit, for he 
says expressly “ /” will be with you, announcing 
a personal presence with his ministers and people, 
of a real and most important character. It is not 
the presence of his human nature, for that is in 


208 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


heaven, and has not been invested with divine at- 
tributes, as it must be, were it present at all times 
and places. It is then the presence in a peculiar 
and precious sense of his divine nature, just as he 
has promised it in the words, “ Where two or three 
are gathered together in mj name, there am I in 
the midst of them.” Matt, xviii. 20 ; and just 
as it is realized in the ordinances and especially 
the sacraments of the church, and the lives of 
God’s people. 

The promise then is one of unspeakable rich- 
ness and comfort. Christ will be with us through 
“ all days,” and as our day, our strength shall be. 
Is it a day of worship? He will be in the midst 
of the two or three who are gathered in the little 
prayer-meeting, as well as with the great congre- 
gation, in which a thousand voices swell the song 
of praise, and a thousand hearts respond to the 
words of prayer. He will also be with the lonely 
worshipper who enters into his closet, and with a 
burdened heart and a quivering lip prays to his 
Father which is in secret. He will be with the 
little company that gather with tearful eyes around 
the communion table, and will whisper to them, 
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good 
pleasure to give you the kingdom.” He will be 
with the drooping minister, as he stands up with 
a faltering heart to proclaim the word of God un- 
der discouragement, and will whisper to him as he 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MATTHEW. 209 

did to the disheartened Paul in Corinth, “ Be not 
afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace, for I am 
with thee , and no man shall set on thee to hurt 
thee, for I have much people in this city.” Acts 
xviii. 9, 10. But for this sweet promise many a 
heart would have sunk in attempting to preach 
the gospel to others. 

Is it a day of toil ? The work to which they 
were summoned was one of amazing, indeed of 
appalling magnitude. It was the conversion of the 
world to God, the downfall of all that was strong- 
est and dearest to Jew and Gentile, and the estab- 
lishment of a religion of self-denial and toil. 
Well might they shrink from a work so vast, but 
for this promise, which secured more to be with 
them than were against them, and enabled them 
to wield a power that was mighty to the pulling 
down of strong holds. We are not therefore sur- 
prised that before the last of that company on 
Olivet was called home, the gospel had been 
preached to the very ends of the earth. But the 
same cheering presence is needed still, for the 
work is still a vast, and almost an appalling one. 
Nor less deeply is it needed in every work of the 
Christian life. We can “ do all things,” only when 
Christ strengthens us with his presence. With 
that presence we need not falter, for he is mighty 
to save, and will give us the victory at last over 
every opposition. 

18 * 


210 


THE TENTH APPEAKANCE. 


Is it a day of trial f Many a child of God has 
had these days, but many a one has also had the 
presence of Jesus to support in them. They have 
had trials of cruel mockings, and scourgings, and 
every form of suffering, and yet been sustained 
through them all by the hope of a better country. 
In poverty Jesus has told them of the heavenly 
riches ; in sickness, of the land where the inhabi- 
tant no more says, “ I am sick in loneliness, of a 
presence closer than that of the dearest on earth ; 
in danger, of a succour that no human power could 
break down. As Paul stood before Nero, or lay 
in the Mamertine prison, he tells the secret of his 
unquailing courage, “The Lord stood with me 
and strengthened me.” As others have entered 
the furnace, and felt the flame kindling upon them, 
the fourth form of the Babylonian furnace has 
been beside them, and delivered them from the 
very smell of fire. In the catacombs of Rome, 
among the crags of Piedmont, along the plains 
of France, through the glens of Scotland, and 
wherever a martyred disciple has borne high tes- 
timony for Jesus, there has he been beside the suf- 
ferer to fulfil his promise. And with the widowed, 
the orphaned, the neglected and pining ones, 
whom all others have forsaken, there has been ever 
this abiding presence, that enabled them to feel 
that the sufferings of this present time are not 
worthy to be compared with the glory that shall 
be revealed to us. 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MATTHEW. 211 

Is it the day of death ? Even there, and even 
more fully there, has this promise been verified 
in the past, and shall be in the future. In that 
lonely valley, Jesus has always met his trusting 
and obedient ones, and his rod and staff have sus- 
tained them there. Stephen found him there as he 
cried, “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” and Paul 
found him there, as he exultingly looked up to the 
crown of righteousness, when the time of his de- 
parture was at hand. Thus has it been, and thus 
shall it be, for when heart and flesh shall fail, he 
shall be the strength of our heart ; and as we go 
down into the dark valley, his presence shall make 
the valley all light. 


212 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


CHAPTER XVI. 

THE TENTH APPEARANCE — APOSTOLIC COMMISSION 

IN MARK.- 

The difference between Matthew and Mark, just such as we would 
expect — The Roman gospel. I. The commission. Its extent — Are 
infants excluded from baptism by its terms ? — The illogical infer- 
ence — Why infants are not named in the commission — The real 
warrant of the commission. II. The authenticating seals. The 
miracles of the soul. III. The consequences of accepting or re- 
jecting — The awful words — Eternity the only interpreter. 

“ ‘Go preach my gospel/ saith the Lord, 

Bid the whole earth my grace receive; 

He shall be saved who trusts my word ; 

He shall be damned that won’t believe. 

I’ll make your great commission known, 

And ye shall prove my gospel true, 

By all the works that I have done, 

By all the wonders ye shall do.’ ” 

“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs 
shall follow them that believe : In my name shall they cast out 
devils ; they shall speak with new tongues ; they shall take up ser- 
pents ; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them ; 

they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Mark xvi. 
15 — 18 . 

The narrative of Mark is condensed, and hence 
sometimes difficult to adjust to the other gospels 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MARK. 213 


The apostolic commission, as he gives it, is closely 
connected on the one hand with the appearance to 
the eleven, as they sat at meat, in v. 14, and with 
the ascension on the other, in vs. 19, 20. As those 
two facts were certainly separated by an interval 
of some days, or weeks, it is obvious that the 
evangelist did not intend to give these events in 
reference to their exact chronology, but only in 
reference to their general connection. Hence we 
may, without the least violence, connect the com- 
mission with the events of vs. 19, 20, rather than 
with those of v. 14, since it must be disconnected 
with one or the other as to the precise time of its 
utterance. This then will place it, where it cer- 
tainly belongs, to the tenth appearance of our 
Lord in Jerusalem and upon Olivet, in connection 
with his ascension. It is true that we might refer 
the appearance in v. 14 to this last occasion, and 
suppose that it described the last interview which 
began in the city and ended on the mount of 
Olives, but the general judgment of expositors 
and the most natural conclusion is, that it refers 
to one or two appearances soon after the resurrec- 
tion, recorded by the other evangelists. 

The form of the commission in Mark differs 
from that in Matthew, precisely as the gospels 
differ, and precisely as we would expect them to 
differ from the general design of the two gospels. 
Matthew, writing for the Hebrews, presents the 


214 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


doctrines that were most important for them, as we 
gather from the epistle to the Hebrews, and brings 
out the connection between the Old and New Tes- 
tament church, the divinity of Christ, the Trinity, 
and the perpetuity of the church. Mark, writing 
for the Roman world, brings out the very doc- 
trines most important for them, as we learn from 
the epistle to the Romans. The very word “gos- 
pel,” which is the text of the epistle to the Ro- 
mans, (Rom. i. 16,) occurs only in this form of the 
commission, and the great doctrine of justification 
by faith, which is the substance of that epistle, is 
also the substance of this form of the commission. 
The authenticating seals promised in this commis- 
sion are precisely those that would most read- 
ily strike the practical intellect of the Romans 
and Gentiles generally, and did in fact do so, 
as we learn from the history of the church. 
Hence we see how admirably adapted was this se- 
lection from the ample utterances of our Lord on 
this occasion, for the purposes of Mark. 

We have here, I. The commission ; II. The seals 
authenticating it ; III. The consequences of ac- 
cepting or rejecting it. 

I. The Commission itself. “ Go ye into all the 
world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, 
but he that believeth not shall be damned.” 

We here perceive again the fact that this was 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MARK. 215 

not the original ordination to preach and baptize, 
but only an extension of the right to do so, from 
one nation to the whole world. The original ordi- 
nation is mentioned by Mark in c. iii. 14 — 19. In 
c. i. 14, 15, he tells us that Jesus came into Galilee 
preaching the gospel and calling on men to repent 
and believe the gospel. In c. iii. 14 — 19, he in- 
forms us that our Lord ordained the twelve to go 
and preach this gospel, omitting the fact mentioned 
by Matthew, in writing for the Hebrews, that they 
were restricted in this preaching (and of course in 
the baptism that we learn from John ii. 1, 2, was 
connected with it) to 'the house of Israel. How 
when the kingdom was fully come, and the gos- 
pel complete, they were sent to proclaim it to all 
nations, and baptize all who would accept it. 

It is therefore wholly illogical to infer that this 
passage is final and exclusive in regard to the 
subject of baptism. As this inference is pressed 
by many, we cannot pass it by without some re- 
mark. 

The argument is, Christ says nothing in this 
passage about infant baptism, though he was 
speaking on the subject of baptism. We reply, he 
says nothing about infant salvation, though he 
was speaking on the subject of salvation. Hence 
the inference that excludes them by this passage 
from baptism, also excludes them from salvation. 
Indeed it is stronger in the latter case than the 


216 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


former, because of the reverse form of the pro- 
position. In the first clause it is not said that one 
who does not believe shall not be baptized, but in 
the second clause, it is expressly said that one 
who does not believe shall not be saved. Hence 
if this passage excludes infants from baptism, much 
more does it exclude them from salvation. If wo 
recoil from this inference, and say that the passage 
only refers to those capable of faith, to adults, then 
if this be true as to salvation, it is equally true as 
to baptism, and hence it cannot be fairly used as 
an argument against the baptism of infants. 

If it be asked, Why did our Lord not designate 
all the subjects of baptism ? we reply that he was 
not explaining the condition of baptism, but of 
salvation. Hence though he names baptism in 
the first clause, he omits it in the second, and Luke 
in recording the words omits it from both. If it 
be further asked why he did not explain who were 
to be the proper subjects of baptism, we reply, 
because this explanation had no doubt been given 
when the original commission to teach and bap- 
tize was granted three years before ; and it was 
just as needless to explain the proper subject of 
baptism, as of ordination to the ministry, or admis- 
sion to the Lord’s Supper, or any other question 
of church order and government, already ex- 
plained. 

The simple purport of the commission was that 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MARK. 217 


having hitherto preached to and baptized Jews 
only, they must now preach to and baptize all 
nations, as the great redemption, indicated by this 
preparatory preaching and baptism, was now fin- 
ished. That this commission involved no restric- 
tion of baptism to adults may be illustrated by a 
simple supposition. Suppose that instead of bap- 
tism it had been circumcision that was enjoined, 
and the statement had been “ he that believeth and 
is circumcised shall be saved,” would any one have 
dreamed that infants were thereby excluded from 
circumcision ? If not from circumcision, then they 
could not be from baptism, by these words. 

The apostolic commission is a simple warrant 
to extend that church to all nations, that had hith- 
erto been confined to one nation. Hence no ex- 
planation of the law of membership in that 
church was needed, unless some change was or- 
dained. That law, which embodied infant mem- 
bership, had been in existence for two thousand 
years, and become as familiar as a household word. 
It was not needed to explain that law any more 
than the law of praise, prayer, or the Sabbath. 
When the church was thus extended, the law of 
membership went with it, unless repealed. As 
the New Testament is silent about any such re- 
peal, it follows that the law of membership is un- 
changed, and that the promise is still not only to 
us, but also to our children, and that Abraham is 
19 


218 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


now the father of all them who believe, even 
though they are not circumcised. 

The commission is therefore not only the war- 
rant, but the command to engage in the work of 
missions. It is what Wellington called “the 
marching orders of the church,” and indifference 
or neglect of missionary labour is disobedience of 
orders, and violation of the sacramental oath. 

II. The Seals authenticating the commission. 

These were to be miracles of five kinds, vs. 17, 
18. The book of Acts records the occurrence of 
all these miracles but one, which no doubt was 
wrought, though not recorded. The first miracle- 
seal was the casting out of demons, which took 
place at Philippi, when the spirit of divination 
was cast out of the damsel by Paul ; and at Ephe- 
sus, when handkerchiefs, blessed by Paul, exor- 
cised those possessed of devils, Acts xvi. 18 ; xix. 
12. The second was speaking with new tongues, 
which took place at pentecost, at the baptism of 
Cornelius, and at Corinth, as we learn from 1 Cor. 
xii. 14. The third was taking up serpents with- 
out harm, which was done by Paul in Melita, 
Acts xxviii. 8-6, and convinced the Maltese that 
he was more than an ordinary man, and his reli- 
gion from God. The fourth was drinking any 
deadly poison with impunity, which no doubt 
happened, though it is not recorded. The fifth 
was laying hands on the sick for their recovery, 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MARK. 219 


which was done repeatedly by Paul, and by many 
others as we learn from James v. 14, 15. 

These seals were necessary to authenticate the 
apostolic office, and hence continued as long as 
the office itself. When neither the office nor the 
seals were required by the state of the church, 
they both ceased, and miraculous powers were 
gradually withdrawn. Christianity is now itself 
the great standing miracle of the world, and its 
mighty works are not physical and bodily, 
but moral and spiritual. It still casts out 
demons, and has taken a John Newton, a Col. 
Gardiner, or a savage Africaner, and transformed 
them into pure, gentle, and loving saints. There 
are thousands on earth, as well as in heaven, who 
need nothing more than their own experience to 
prove that the gospel still retains its ancient 
power of casting demons out of the soul. It 
still enables the Christian to speak with new 
tongues, putting a new song into his mouth, and 
enabling the lips that once were all dumb, to utter 
the language of Zion. There are still serpents 
that it enables one to take up harmlessly, the hiss- 
ing brood of malice, envy, and calumny, which 
soon drop from the hand of innocence, leaving it 
unhurt. It still shields from the deadly cup of 
temptation and neutralizes its poisonous power, so 
that, if led into temptation, it at least delivers from 
evil. It still heals sickness, not of the body it is 


220 THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 

true, but of the soul, and whispers sweet hopes of 
the land where no one says, “ I am sick.” Hence 
its triumphs, if not so palpable to the senses as 
these literal miracles, are still authenticating seals 
of its divine warrant, for nothing could accomplish 
such works as these, unless it came from God. 

III. The Consequences of accepting or rejecting the 
proffer contained in this commission. 

These consequences are embodied in two of the 
most momentous words ever uttered by human lips, 
salvation and damnation. The meaning of these 
awful words it will require an eternity of experi- 
ence to unfold. They involve all that is most 
joyous in heaven, and all that is most fearful in hell, 
for ever ! When the great apostle had caught but a 
single glimpse of what is included in salvation, he 
came back saying that it was not only unlawful to 
utter the things that he saw, but impossible, for 
they were unutterable. And if the splendors of 
the heavenly city are thus unutterable, how much 
more the terrors of the dark region below ! The 
very dimness and vagueness of the terms employed 
to describe its torments, are more terrible than the 
minutest description of details, for it tells us that 
they baffle description, and are unutterable. 

That this should be hinged on simple faith or 
its absence seems strange, until we remember that 
man is lost already, a doomed rebel, a serpent-bit- 
ten wanderer in the desert, a shipwrecked mariner 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MARK. 221 

drowning in the sea. Pardon is offered to the 
rebel, healing to the dying wanderer, an ark of 
safety to the perishing voyager. To believe and 
accept is to be saved ; to refuse or neglect is to 
allow the avenger of blood to come, the poison to 
to do its fatal work, and the drowning one to 
perish in the waters, for “ how can we escape, if 
we neglect so great salvation ?” 

19 * 


222 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE, 


CHAPTER XVII. 

THE TENTH APPEARANCE — APOSTOLIC COMMISSION 

IN LUKE. 

Differences between Luke and the other evangelists — The Greek gos- 
pel. I. The Holy Scripture the only final and unerring rule of faith 
and practice. Popery and infidelity — Jesus endorsing the scrip- 
ture. II. The central doctrine of revelation, an atoning and suffer- 
ing Messiah. The law, prophets, and psalms — The cross of Christ 
the centre of all human history. III. A divine power needful to 
enable man to comprehend the gospel of Christ. “ Opening the un- 
derstanding” — The new light. IV. The salvation of the gospel for 
all, however remote their habitation, or great their guilt. “All na- 
tions ” — “ Beginning at Jerusalem” — Bunyan’s Jerusalem sinner. 

“ Thy glory o’er creation shines ; 

But in thy sacred word, 

I read in fairer, brighter lines, 

My bleeding, dying Lord.” 

“ And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto 
you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which 
were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the 
psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that 
they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is 
written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead 
the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be 
preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 
And ye are witnesses of these things.” Luke xxiv. 44 — 47. 

In discussing the apostolic commission as it is 
given by the first two evangelists, we have seen 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN LUKE. 223 

how exactly the form of it was determined by the 
purpose of each gospel. The evangelist Matthew, 
writing for the Hebrews, gives that portion of 
our Lord’s instructions during that last memora- 
ble night and morning, which was most needful 
for the Hebrews, as we learn from the prominence 
given to them in the epistle to the Hebrews. 
Mark, writing for the Roman world, presents the 
doctrines required by the Latin mind, as we gather 
from the stress laid on these doctrines in the 
epistle to the Romans. But Luke addressed a yet 
different audience, the third representative people 
of the ancient world, the great Grecian race, that 
was scattered so widely over the earth, and played 
so important a part in history. They were pol- 
ished with intellectual culture, and had a vast lit- 
erature of their own, and a language so widely 
diffused that it was the best possible vehicle for a 
revelation that was designed for the whole world. 
Hence Lukb adopts a more strict historical method, 
and bases his gospel more on existing records, 
and gives prominence to the scriptures. Whilst 
Matthew made prominent the divinity of Christ, 
his mediatorial kingdom, and the Trinity; and 
Mark, the doctrine of justification by faith ; Luke 
presents the authority of the holy scripture, the 
doctrine of an atoning Messiah, and the need of 
divine illumination to understand the scriptures. 
These were the doctrines needful to be made prom- 


224 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


inent to the Greeks, to whom they were foolish- 
ness. And it is a striking proof of the position 
already argued that the apostolic commission was 
not the original authority to baptize, that we find 
no mention made of baptism at all by Luke in his 
form of the commission. This can be explained 
only on the supposition that the authority had 
previously been granted, and hence it was not 
deemed necessary to repeat the grant here. The 
only point that it has in common with the other 
forms of the commission is, the extension of the 
grant to all nations that had hitherto been limited 
to the Jewish nation. There are several points of 
great importance presented in this form of the 
commission. 

I. The Holy Scripture is the only unerring and 
final rule of faith and practice. 

This is the great question of the day in which 
we live. Infidelity on one hand assails the suffi- 
ciency of scripture, and presents human reason in 
one form as its supplement. Popery on the 
other hand assails it, and presents human reason 
in another form for the same purpose. Both agree 
in rejecting the scripture as a final and sufficient 
rule, and in presenting human reason to correct it. 
They differ in the precise form in which we are to 
look for that reason : Infidelity contending for the 
cultivated reason of the present, Popery for the 
traditional reason of the past. 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN LUKE. 225 

Against all these impugners we have the direct 
and thrice uttered recognition of Christ. He 
appeals to the fact that when he was with them, 
he told them “that all things must be fulfilled 
which were written in the law of Moses, and in 
the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning” him ; 
he “opened their understandings that they might 
understand the scriptures,” “ and said unto them, 
Thus it is written, &c,” giving by these three dis- 
tinct recognitions of the binding authority of 
scripture, the strongest proof of his views on this 
point. He makes no distinction as to portions of 
higher or lower authority, but places the entire 
scripture on the commanding elevation of a su- 
preme and divinely inspired rule of faith and 
practice, and one whose sufficiency was such as to 
need no supplementing authority or interpreter 
Nor is his recognition limited to the portions of 
scripture then written. The unwritten parts are 
equally endorsed in the words, “ ye are witnesses 
of these things.” v. 48. Here they were appointed 
to be the authorized witnesses of his gospel, and 
of course had assured to them the same reliable 
accuracy in delivering their testimony that he al- 
leged in regard to the Old Testament witnesses, 
which was equivalent to a promise of inspiration. 
Hence we have here the great doctrine of the suf- 
ficiency of scripture as a rule of faith and practice, 
that the church of God rests on the Bible, as its 


226 THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 

basis, and that all scripture is given by inspiration 
of God, and is profitable for our instruction in 
what is needful to salvation. 

II. The great central doctrine of Revelation is a 
suffering and atoning Messiah. 

When Jesus comes to explain what is written 
concerning him in the scripture, we find that it is, 
<( thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from 
the dead the third day.” v. 46. This was the great 
doctrine which to the Jews was a stumbling block, 
and to the Greeks, foolishness ; and yet a doctrine 
taught in all the history, the revelation, and the 
types of the past, from Abel to John the Baptist. 

The law spake of a suffering and atoning 
Messiah. Sacrifice would have been else an un- 
meaning cruelty. Every lamb, from that of Abel 
to Abraham, and the paschal lamb of Egypt, and 
the sacrificial pomp of Sinai, down to the last vic- 
tim in the little upper chamber, pointed forward 
to the Lamb of God who was to take away the sin 
of the world. All the washings, and sprinklings, 
and vestments, and ritual of the law, found their 
meaning only in Christ, and can be fully inter- 
preted only at the cross. 

The prophets spake of him from Enoch to Mal- 
achi : Isaiah, sounding his gospel in terms of such 
unequalled grandeur ; Jeremiah, uttering it in 
tears ; Ezekiel, gazing, rapt in astonishment on the 
Son of Man ; Daniel, counting the very weeks 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN LUKE. 227 


until Messiah was to be cut off ; Zechariah, pro- 
claiming the lowly king ; and Malachi, the refiner 
and purifier of silver, who should soon come to 
his temple. “ The testimony of Jesus is the spirit 
of prophecy.” 

The psalms, including ail the devotional portions 
of the scripture, are also full of rich strains of 
tenderness and pathos, that find their key note 
only in the song of Moses and the Lamb. 

The burden of all those utterances of revelation 
was that Christ must suffer and rise from the dead, 
in other words, must make an atonement by suffer- 
ing. This is the great cardinal doctrine of the 
Christian system, a doctrine which every*age has 
seen attacked, and yet to which every age has been 
compelled at last to return, as the living, throb- 
bing heart of the gospel. As the sense of sin 
grows faint in an individual or an age, the need 
of atonement is less deeply felt, and a mere sym- 
bolical, or figurative atonement is adopted instead 
of a real, vicarious substitution. But when the 
sense of sin grows deeper, and its intrinsic ill-de- 
sert is more clearly perceived, then this great doc- 
trine of revelation begins to glow as if with light 
from heaven, that it behoved Christ both to suffer, 
and to rise again from the dead; since his suffering 
was needed as an atonement, and his resurrection 
as an authentication of this great transaction, from 
the hand of God himself. It is most marvellous 


228 


THE TENTH APPEAEANCE. 


that this most sublime and touching act of love 
should be charged with the implication that it pre- 
sents God in an implacable and unamiable light, 
as unwilling to forgive, when God had emptied 
his very throne, in a measure, to show that 
he was willing and waiting to forgive. It 
shows that sin is a great and horrible evil, and 
that God is a God of inflexible justice and truth ; 
it shows that mere repentance, without atonement, 
can never procure pardon ; but it also shows that 
God is merciful and full of love, as nothing else 
ever did, for he had but one Son, his well-beloved, 
and that Son he gave to suffer, that sinners might 
be saved. 

Hence we learn the true nature and position of 
repentance. Eepentance can procure pardon only 
after an atonement is made. And true repentance 
is only exercised by resting on the atonement. 
Here we find the test that distinguishes true and 
false repentance. False repentance is sin weeping 
because of the suffering that it has brought upon 
itself. True repentance is love weeping at the 
cross, its bitterest tears being wrung out by the 
fact that it has sinned against a goodness that can 
so freely, and yet at so costly a price, bestow a full 
and generous pardon. Hence we see why repent- 
ance and remission of sins could then be preached^ 
as the result of the suffering and resurrection of 
Jesus Christ. 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN LUKE. 229 


If then an atonement for sin is the great central 
doctrine of revelation, it is the great central fact 
of history, for the plan of God’s redeeming work 
is the most memorable part of his earthly govern- 
ment. Hence human history is one mighty ora- 
torio of the Messiah, whose deep bass notes are 
the solemn and suffering tones which proclaim 
man a great sinner, and whose lofty alto is sound- 
ed by those glorious strains which proclaim 
Christ a great Saviour, and whose choral song 
bursts forth in the grand Hallelujah, “Glory to 
God in the highest, and on earth peace and good 
will to men.” In the din and discord that are 
around us now, we cannot catch the mighty har- 
monies that run through the whole ; but when we 
come to trace it from the great choral company 
around the throne, we shall then know, as we can- 
not now, how the song of the morning stars at 
the dawn of creation, and the song of the angels 
on the plains of Bethlehem, and the song of 
Moses and the Lamb, the new song in heaven, 
were all one and the same great melody, the won- 
drous harmony of justice and mercy, sin and 
salvation, righteousness and peace, by the work 
of Him who loved us and gave himself for us, and 
redeemed us by his blood. 

III. A Divine power is needful to enable man to 
comprehend the gospel of Christ. 

This appears from the statement of Luke, in 
20 


280 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


v. 45. “Then opened he their understanding, that 
they might understand the scriptures.” The in- 
fluence of the Spirit here bestowed was doubtless 
an extraordinary one, qualifying them to be un- 
erring interpreters of the scriptures already written, 
and writers of those yet unwritten. But this fact 
involves a wider truth. There was no peculiar 
blindness in their case requiring any peculiar 
“opening of the understanding.” There is a 
darkening of the understanding that is common to 
all, for by nature man is not only guilty but blind. 
“The natural man receiveth not the things of the 
Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him ; 
neither can he know them, because they are spirit- 
ually discerned.” 1 Cor. ii. 14. Hence in the great 
work of regeneration, there is more than a mere 
increase of iight; there is an opening of the blind 
eyes to see the light, before that light can be of any 
use. Hence David prayed, “ Open thou mine eyes, 
that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” 
Ps. cxix. 18. Isaiah predicted the Messiah as one 
who was “ to open the blind eyes,” ch. xlii. 7, and 
in the actual work of the gospel, “ the Lord opened 
the heart of Lydia.” Acts xvi. 14. 

It is this blindness that leads men to prefer sin 
to holiness. If the eyes were open, they would as 
soon prefer a cancer or a leprosy for the body, as 
prefer sin for the soul. And it is this blindness that 
leads men to neglect the gospel with its grandeur 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN LUKE. 


231 


and beauty, neglect the Bible with its unparalleled 
attractions, and neglect God the loveliest, most 
glorious, and purest, as he is the holiest and 
greatest of all objects of thought or affection. 
Hence, however cogently truth may be presented 
to the understanding, its real beauty and power 
can never be seen until the Spirit of God opens 
the blind eyes, and enables them to see. Then as the 
light dawns, a new world is unveiled, a world all 
bathed in sunlight from heaven, and all things 
become new. The Bible is seen to be a new book, 
and its pages glow with a splendor that was never 
seen before. The whole past, present, and future 
of life are seen in another light, and in that new 
light, the soul begins its pilgrimage to that better 
country, the road to which begins at the cross, and 
ends in that city that hath, foundations, whose 
builder and maker is God. To enable us to see 
this blessed path, our cry must be that of the blind 
Bartimeus, “ Lord, that I may receive my sight.” 

IV. The salvation of the gospel is for all , however 
remote their habitation , or great their sin , 

“Among all nations beginning at Jerusalem,” 
presents the limitations placed by Jesus himself 
to his gospel. Among these “ all nations,” then 
far distant, were our fathers, then in heathenism, if 
not barbarism; and it is by this universal warrant 
that the gospel was brought to them, and thus 
handed down to us. Had the apostles felt about 


232 


THE TENTH APPEAKANCE. 


the heathen of their day, as many feel about the 
heathen of this day, the gospel could never have 
reached us, and we must have been yet in our 
sins. It was missionary labour that brought the 
gospel to us, and it must be by the same kind of 
work that it is to be carried to others. Hence the 
enjoyment of the gospel by us carries with it the 
express condition that we should transmit it to 
others, even to all nations; and until all nations 
have received it, cessation of missionary labour is 
disobedience to Christ. 

But if the command to carry the gospel to “ all 
nations” implies that no one is debarred from its 
blessings by remoteness of habitation, the com- 
mand to begin at Jerusalem indicates the same free 
offer, however great the sin. There is something 
very touching in this injunction to begin at Jerusa- 
lem. We would have thought beforehand that if 
there were any place that must be excluded, it 
would be Jerusalem. It was over Jerusalem he had 
uttered those words, of doom, “But now they are 
hid from thine eyes.” It was of Jerusalem that he 
had exclaimed, “ Thou that killest the prophets and 
stonest them who are sent to thee.” It was along 
the streets of Jerusalem that the wild and bloody 
cry for blood, rang with such fiendish ferocity/ 4 Cru- 
cify him, crucify him !” It was the soil of Jeru- 
salem that was wet with the tears and sweat of 
Gethsemane, and the blood and water of Calvary. 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN LUKE. 233 

Hence if there were any spot on earth that might 
expect the sternest exclusion from the blessings 
of the gospel, that spot was Jerusalem. But the 
wonderful fact is, that it was to this very spot, all 
stained with guilt, that the first offer was to be 
made. And why ? Because their guilt was not 
so deeply dyed ? Oh, no, but just because its dye 
was so deep and indelible; for if Jerusalem, all red 
with the blood of prophets and martyrs, and last 
of all, the priceless blood of the well-beloved Son — 
if Jerusalem could be forgiven, none need despair. 
If Jerusalem can be saved, none need be lost. . 
This is the sublime and tender assurance of this 
injunction. If a soul feels its sins to be too heavy 
and dark, it only needs that we point to the fact 
that the offer of mercy was to begin at Jerusalem, 
to show that no sin, however deeply dyed, can ex- 
clude from pardon, if the sinner will come with a 
penitent heart to Christ. 

Bunyan in his quaint tract on these words, 
entitled, “The Jerusalem sinner saved, or good 
news for the vilest of men,” gives in his dramatic 
vein, a lively picture of the fulfilment of this 
part of the commission. He represents Peter 
declaring to the people of Jerusalem the message, 

“ Repent and be baptized, every one of you," and 
the people urging their objections. “ Obj . But I 
was one of them that plotted to take away his 
life: may I be saved by him? Peter. Every one 
20 * * 


234 THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 

of you. Obj. But I was one of them that bare 
false witness against him: is there grace for me? 
Peter. For every one fo you. Obj. But I was one 
of them that cried out, Crucify, crucify him, and 
that desired that Barabbas the murderer might 
live rather than him : what will become of me, 
think you ? Peter. I am to preach repentance and 
remission of sins to every one of you. Obj. But 
I was one of them that did spit in his face when 
he stood before his accusers ; I also was one that 
mocked him, when in anguish he hanged bleeding 
on the tree : is there room for me ? Peter. For 
every one of you. Obj. But I was one of them 
that in his extremity said, Give him gall and vin- 
egar to drink : why may I not expect the same, 
when anguish and guilt is upon me ? Peter. Re- 
pent of these your wickednesses, and here is re- 
mission of sins for every one of you.” 

And yet deep as was the guilt of these Jerusa- 
lem sinners, the very atrocity of their guilt when 
pardon is offered, makes the guilt of impenitence 
and rejection of the gospel now to be yet more 
atrocious. If it will be more tolerable for Sodom 
and Gomorrah in the great day, than for Chorazin, 
Betbsaida, and Capernaum, it will be more tolera- 
ble for the Jerusalem sinner than for many in 
our day. For he may well say to the soul that 
rejects Christ now, “ I never knew that the crucified 
Jesus was the Saviour of sinners, I rejected him 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN LUKE. 235 

ignorantly in unbelief, not knowing that he was 
the Holy One of Israel ; I never read the pages of 
the New Testament, unfolding so richly the great 
ideas of the Old ; I never saw the stupendous mass 
of evidence that eighteen centuries of history have 
piled around the cross ; I never had a Christian 
mother to whisper of the babe of Bethlehem in 
my childhood, or a Christian father to tell me of 
the man of Calvary in riper years ; had I enjoyed 
all these, I would long since have repented in dust 
and ashes.” And the force of this plea is undeni- 
able. Hence it may be that if the offer of mercy 
was to begin at Jerusalem, so also must the sen- 
tence of doom. It may be that as the long line of 
unhappy souls begins to file away from the left 
hand of the Judge, and take their places in the 
dark chambers of the damned, the same rule may 
be applied then that was applied at the open- 
ing of the gospel, “ beginning at Jerusalem,” and 
ending with those who have been nurtured in 
Christian homes, instructed in Christian churches, 
and yet who have refused themselves to be Christ- 
ian disciples. It may be that some of these may 
be compelled to say to the guilty sons and daugh- 
ters of Jerusalem, “ Give me room to sink to a 
deeper, darker, hotter doom than even that begin- 
ning at Jerusalem ; for as much higher as have 
been my privileges, so much deeper must be my 
doom.” 


236 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE TENTH APPEARANCE — APOSTOLIC COMMISSION 

IN ACTS. 

The gospel of the Holy Ghost. I. Waiting for the promise of the 
Father. Gorgeous dreams of the kingdom — Curiosity about the 
future — Almanac makers of prophecy — Waiting for the vision — 
Creation groaning — How must we wait ? II. The promise of the 
Father. Meaning of baptism — Mode of baptism — The dispensa- 
tion of the Spirit — Christ’s ascent the condition of the Spirit’s de- 
scent — Intercession of the Holy Ghost, how it differs from that of 
Christ. III. Effects of the fulfilment of the promise. All Christ- 
ians witnesses for Christ — Passive witnessing — Martyrs — Cecil and 
his mother, Addison — The unconscious'witness. 

“Eternal Spirit, we confess, 

And sing the wonders of thy grace : 

Thy power conveys our blessings down, 

From God the Father, and the Son. 

The troubled conscience knows thy voice, 

Thy cheering words awake our joys, 

Thy words allay the stormy wind, 

And calm the surges of the mind.” 

“The former treatise have I made, 0 Theophilus, of all that Jesus 
began both to do and teach. Until ' the day in which he was taken 
up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments 
unto the apostles whom he had chosen : to whom also he shewed 
himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen 
of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the 
kingdom of God: and being assembled together with them, com- 
manded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN ACTS. 


237 


for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with 
the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore were 
oome together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this 
time restore again the kingdom to Israel ? And he said unto them, 
It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father 
hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the 
Holy Ghost is come upon you : and ye shall be witnesses unto me 
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the 
uttermost part of the earth.” Acts i. 1 — 8. 

We have now reached the last form in which 
the apostolic commission was issued by the 
Holy Spirit, and the last record that was made of 
this closing interview between Jesus and his dis- 
ciples. We have seen how precisely each of the 
preceding forms of the commission was adapted 
to the purpose of the gospel in which it is found. 
It will, of course, not be 'supposed for a moment 
that it is designed to represent either as an inac- 
curate statement of the words of our Lord. It 
has already been stated, that the probability is 
that our Lord spent all the night preceding the 
ascension with his disciples, and that he said very 
many things that have not been recorded, and 
said the same thing in different forms, leaving 
each writer to select that portion of his discourse 
that was most suitable to the object of his narra- 
tive. Hence there being a necessity, in the existing 
condition of the world, and in the great represen- 
tative nations then most prominent, for different 
utterances of the same facts, the same necessity 


238 THE TENTH ArPEARANCE. 

required correspondingly different presentations 
of the apostolic commission. Matthew, in writing 
for the Hebrews, gave such portion of the discourse 
as was most suitable to the Hebrew mind. Mark, 
writing for the Romans, gave the form demanded 
by their peculiar condition. Luke, when writing 
a gospel, with a view to the wants of the Greeks, 
gave one form of the commission ; but in writing 
the Acts, having a different object in view, he 
gives us other facts omitted in the former record. 
As this book was written more than thirty years 
after the facts occurred, and when the church was 
in a very different condition from that in which it 
was at first, we look with interest at the statement 
of facts which it was deemed necessary to place on 
record in this last narrative of the history. The 
Acts of the Apostles has been called the gospel 
of the Holy Ghost, from the prominence given to 
that Divine agent in the book. We find this very 
feature in the record of the commission. Whilst 
the portion of our Lord’s words quoted by Luke, 
in his gospel, mentions the scriptures three times, 
we find here the same number of allusions to the 
Holy Ghost, thus giving us a clue to the great ob- 
ject of this fifth gospel. The design of the book, 
and of the form of the commission given in the 
book, is to present prominently the great fact that 
the New Testament dispensation is pre-eminently 
a dispensation of the Holy Ghost. We have also 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN ACTS. 


239 


the further facts not mentioned elsewhere, that our 
Lord tarried on earth forty days after his resur- 
rection, holding many conversations with his 
disciples, and that the topic of them all was the 
kingdom of God, which he had come on earth to 
set up. There are several points here deserving 
our attention. 

I. Waiting for the promise of the Father. 

Christ “ commanded them that they should not 
depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise 
of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of 
me.” Here is one of the most difficult duties to 
which a Christian is ever summoned. To work for 
the promise is easy, to wait for it is often very 
hard. There is a restless eagerness to enjoy what 
is hoped for, that makes us uneasy under any de- 
lay in the fulfilment of the promise. 

This feeling we detect in the question of the 
disciples, “ Lord, wilt thou at this time restore 
again the kingdom to Israel ?” It is plain from 
this question that there was not a little carnality 
still in their views. Trammelled by their tradi- 
tional and national expectations, they could not 
fully comprehend, either the promise of the Father, 
or the nature of the kingdom of God. They ex- 
pected evidently a temporal, rather than a spiritual 
kingdom. Burning with the glorious memories 
of the past, when the magnificence of David and 
Solomon shed on Israel a splendor that outshone 


240 THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 

the glory of all the rest of the earth, and secretly 
chafing under the crushing yoke of Rome, they 
looked and longed for the great Deliverer, who 
was to unfurl the banner of David on the hills of 
Judea; and rallying, with the war-cry of the past, 
all the true sons of Israel would sweep from her 
hallowed soil every trace of the haughty invader, 
and again make Jerusalem a joy of the whole 
earth. Impatient for these glorious destinies, they 
were eager to rush to the conflict. Hence they 
asked whether at this time he meant to restore the 
old kingly line, and with it the kingly splendor, to 
Israel. 

As the question was only in regard to the time, 
and not in regard to the nature of the kingdom, 
and as the lesson to be taught was the lesson of 
patiently waiting for the promise, whether it was 
clearly understood or not, our Lord confines his 
reply to the single point raised in the question, 
“ It is not for you to know the times or the seasons 
which the Father hath put in his own power.” He 
knew that the teachings of the Holy Ghost would 
soon explain to them the nature of the kingdom. 
His single aim was to reprove that impatient de- 
sire that they manifested to wrest from the future 
its untold secrets, and read the chronology of that 
book that God alone can open and peruse. 

The feeling here reproved is by no means an 
unusual one, nor is it yet extinct. There has been 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN ACTS. 241 

always, and is now in many minds an intense de- 
sire to lift the veil that hides the future, and force 
on the wheels of the ark of God. It sometimes 
appears in a very offensive form, selecting certain 
delusive data of prophetic interpretation, and 
then predicting the very day and hour when the 
Son of Man shall come ; startling for a while the 
credulous and superstitious, but in the end hard- 
ening men more obdurately in scepticism and sin. 
The gross delusion of Millerism in our times is 
an illustration, and some very popular expositors 
of prophecy incur somewhat of the same condemna- 
tion that rests on these grosser forms of enthusiasm 
and error. 

There is a time when the great purposes of God 
shall be finished, and, especially, when the last 
awful appearance shall be made. But this time is 
wisely concealed by God, in order that no man or 
generation may be lulled into presumption. It is 
designed that the end of the world to the race, may 
be like the end of the world to the individual : 
certain in its event, that all may prepare for it ; 
uncertain in its time, that this preparation may 
not be postponed, and life lost and wasted in sin. 
Hence to those who would wring from prophetic 
data the precise year and day of the coming of 
Christ, and most of those data the very revelations 
that the disciples had when they asked Christ this 
question, i. a., the prophecies of Daniel, we may 
21 


242 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


very properly reply, “ It is not for you to know the 
times and seasons which the Father hath put in his 
own power.” Of that day and hour knoweth no 
man, not even the Son in his human and prophetic 
capacity, for it is not designed to be revealed to 
any mere creature in his simple capacity as a 
creature. Hence this prurient desire to wring 
from the sublime symbolism of prophecy the exact 
dates of a table of chronology, is at once a folly and 
a crime. 

There is an anxiety as to what is coming, that is 
lawful and commendable. This feeling expresses 
itself in the prayers, “Thy kingdom come.” 
“ Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” “ How long, O 
Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and 
avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth ?” 
This anxiety will lead us to labour and to hope. But 
when this anxiety rises into impatience ; when the 
slow progress of the gospel makes us grow weary in 
the work of spreading it ; when the little fruit that 
we see tempts us to cease our efforts to plant and to 
water the seed ; when we are ready to say it is use- 
less to work on when that work seems to be so 
utterly in vain ; then we reach a point of anxiety 
that is sinful, and have some of the feeling reproved 
in the disciples. We would have the promise ful- 
filled “ at this time” now , and are unwilling to wait 
in patience, and need then to be reminded that it is 
not for us to know the times and seasons that the 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN ACTS. 243 

Father has put in his own power. To work and 
to wait are ours, to promise and to perform are 
God’s ; and as surely as we do the first, so surely 
will he, at the best possible time, do the last, 
There is a promise of the Father for which the 
whole earth groaneth and travaileth together in 
pain, until now. This glorious “manifestation of 
the sons of God” will be the end of all toils and 
pains to the struggling and divided church of God. 
It is not to be wondered at that the weary heart will 
sometimes cry out in impatience, “How long, O 
Lord, how long?” It is then that this calm and 
commanding word “wait” comes clear and com- 
forting to our souls. “ The vision is yet for an 
appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and 
not lie : though it tarry, wait for it, because it will 
surely come, it will not tarry.” The sublime out- 
goings of the eternal kingdom are governed by 
their own immutable laws, and these laws are be- 
yond our finite and feeble ken. “One day is with 
the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand 
years as one day, and the Lord is not slack con- 
cerning his promise as some men count slackness, 
but is long-suffering.” 

But how must we wait? In idleness? In 
slumber ? No ; we must wait as the husbandman 
waits for the early and latter rains, who labours 
while he waits ; wait as the watchman waits for 
the dawn, who watches as he waits ; wait as the 


244 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


wise virgins waited, who trimmed their lamps as 
they waited, and kept oil in their vessels with 
their lamps. We know how the disciples waited, 
and thus also are we to wait. They waited in 
prayer, not merely secret but social and united 
prayer, and so must we. They waited in labour, 
striving to do all that they could to be ready for 
the blessing, and so must we. They waited in 
love and united action, being all with one accord 
in one place, and so must we. They waited in 
holy seclusion from the world, wrestling with God 
for the promise, and so must we. They waited in 
faith, assuredly looking for the gift of the Holy 
Ghost, and so must we. Pentecostal prayer must 
always precede a pentecostal blessing. 

These general principles are applicable to every 
promise of the Father, and every object of hope 
for which we are to wait in hope. Do we long 
for the conversion of our children ? We must 
wait, but work and watch and pray while we wait. 
Is it for some personal blessing, some attainment 
in the divine life? We must wait, but wrestle 
while we wait, strive to subdue the besetting sin, 
and to draw down from God the promised bless- 
ing. Is it in some department of labour that we 
wait? The pastor, the elder, the teacher, the 
parent have often to wait long before they see the 
result of their labours. But they should wait as 
Israel waited for the fall of the walls of Jericho, 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN ACTS. 245 

in simple obedience to the commands of God. Is 
it for a larger outpouring of the Spirit? We 
must wait as Elijah waited on Carmel, praying 
while we wait, and looking while we pray, and 
fainting not though the cloud be but as a man’s 
hand, and afar off on the distant sea. Is it for the 
first great blessing in religion, a new heart, and a 
hope in Christ ? Many wait for this in a very 
sinful way. They wait, hoping that God will do 
what they must do, and give them the conscious 
possession of a new heart before they submit 
themselves to Christ and cast themselves on his 
mercy. But they must wait in believing, wait in 
repenting, wait in praying, and wait in obeying, 
and they will not wait in vain. Man cannot 
make the seed sprout, but he may sow it, and he must 
sow it before he can expect it to grow. God must 
give the increase, but man must plant and water, 
or there will be no increase. Hence in every 
duty, difficulty, danger, perplexity, and sorrow, 
the rule is the same; we must wait, but wait in 
faith, hope, obedience, and labour, and we shall 
not wait in vain. 

II. The promise of the Father, 

That promise is fully explained. “For John 
truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized 
with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” v. 5, 

“ But ye shall receive power after that the Holy 
Ghost is come upon you.” v. 8. The promise of 


246 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


the Father is therefore the gift of the Holy Ghost. 
It was promised to Christ as a reward for his 
mediatorial sufferings, and that which the Father 
gave to the Son, the Son gave to the church and 
world, when he ascended on high, leading captiv- 
ity captive, and obtaining gifts for men. In the 
form of the promise here given, there are several 
points of deep interest involved. 

We learn something of the meaning of the or- 
dinance of baptism. The contrast that Christ 
draws between baptism with water, and baptism 
with the Holy Ghost, shows that he regards the 
one as symbolical of the other, and the water bap- 
tism to be the sign and seal of the work of the 
Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit is here presented 
to us under three great emblems in scripture, air, 
fire, and water : air, implying life ; fire, purity ; and 
water, combining both in a certain sense, being 
equally necessary for life and purity of body. 

As water both slakes the burning thirst of man 
and revives the parching fields, and also purifies 
whilst it cools and refreshes, so is the agency of 
the Spirit on the soul. Hence this outward appli- 
cation of water is designed to symbolize the in- 
ward application of the life-giving and purifying 
influences of the Holy Ghost. As the Lord’s sup- 
per then symbolizes the work of the Son, bap- 
tism represents the work of the Holy Spirit, thus 
giving a complete exhibition of the great work 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN ACTS. 


247 


of redemption and regeneration, by which we are 
made meet for the inheritance of the saints in 
light. 

We also learn something as to the proper mode 
of baptism. Without entering at large on this 
vexed question, we cannot avoid noticing the de- 
cisive facts of this passage. The influences of the 
Holy Spirit are very often represented as being 
“ poured ” on the recipient. The anointings of the 
Old Testament, which represented the influences of 
the Spirit, were made always by pouring oil on the 
head. (See Ps. cxxxiii. 2; Luke iv. 18, &c.) These 
influences are so represented always in the Old 
Testament, as in Isa. xxxii. 15, “Until the Spirit 
be poured upon us from on high.” In the New 
Testament the same representation is uniformly 
given. The Spirit is said to “ come ” on the recip- 
ient, Acts i. 8 ; ii. 2 ; to be “ poured,” Acts ii. 16- 
18 ; x. 45 ; to be “ shed,” Acts ii. 33 ; to “ fall on,” 
" Acts x. 44 ; xi. 15 ; and similar expressions, of the 
same import. Hence whatever might have been 
the usage of the world before this time, it is plain 
that they must have inferred that if baptism by 
the Holy Ghost was to take place by the pouring 
of the Holy Ghost upon the subject, baptism by 
water (which was to be exactly like it by the express 
words of Jesus) must be done by the pouring of 
water on the subject. When the resemblance be- 
tween the two baptisms was presented so strongly, 


248 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


if the one must be by pouring, surely so must be 
the other. Now as they were familiar with a use 
of water called a baptism, done in the same way, 
the baptism of tables, couches, &c., (Mark vii. 4, 8 ; 
Luke xi. 38, ) the natural inference is that the 
baptism by water was done “ as ” the baptism of 
the Holy Ghost, that is, by pouring on the subject. 
Hence this we believe to have been the primitive 
mode of baptism, though laid aside when super- 
stition began to creep into the church, and attach 
some saving efficacy to mere outward rites, and 
especially to the sacraments, at which time the 
washing of the whole body took the place of the 
simpler mode of the early church. 

But the great fact presented in the promise was 
that the New Testament dispensation was to be 
one of the Spirit. There are depths of truth here 
which we can but imperfectly grasp, and on 
which we should meditate with profound rever- 
ence. But our Lord states a fact so emphatically 
and repeatedly that we cannot mistake its mean- 
ing. He says that he must depart from the earth 
before the Spirit could descend in power. This is 
reiterated in the gospel of John. (See ch. xiv. 16 
IT, 26 ; xv. 26 ; xvi. 7, 13.) If he did not return 
to heaven, the Spirit would not come down to 
earth. The reason for this necessity we cannot 
fully understand. It may be that the whole plan 
of redemption is designed to set forth the sublime 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN ACTS. 249 

mystery of the Trinity, that as the one God, the 
Father, was most prominent before the incarna- 
tion, the Son revealed in the incarnation and life 
of Jesus on earth, so the Spirit was to be revealed 
in the next great phase, the life of the church on 
earth ; and thus that human history in its relation 
to the work of redemption was designed to shadow 
forth the deep mysteries of the Godhead, and show 
that all spiritual blessings must be from the Father, 
through the Son, and by the Holy Ghost. 

Whatever be the remote reason of the fact, the 
fact itself stands clearly out, that the New Testa- 
ment dispensation is pre-eminently the dispensa- 
tion of the Spirit. And the words of Jesus inti- 
mate that it was needful that he should make the 
grand triumphal entrance of the ascension, and be 
inaugurated as the King of glory above, before 
the Spirit could be poured out below; and that 
this great descent of the Holy One was to be the 
signal on earth that the mighty transaction in 
heaven had taken place, the everlasting doors 
been lifted up, and the King of glory entered in 
to his mediatorial throne in heaven. Hence, now 
we are to look for all blessings through the Son 
as their medium, but by the Holy Spirit as their 
applying agency. The scriptures, to which we 
come for words of eternal life, are inspired by the 
Holy Ghost. Regeneration, the beginning of the 
spiritual life, is the work of the Holy Ghost. 


250 THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 

Sanctification, the progress of the spiritual life, is 
by the agency of the Holy Ghost. Prayer, the 
breath of the spiritual life, is by the aid, often in 
“ groanings that cannot be uttered,” of the Holy 
Ghost. Good works, the proof and product of 
the spiritual life, are the fruits of the Holy Ghost. 
The whole work of the spiritual life is the work 
of the Holy Ghost. As Christ is a Mediator with 
the Father to bring us to him, the Holy Ghost is 
a Mediator between the soul and Christ to draw 
us to Jesus, and enable us to lay hold of him by 
faith. 

Here we reach a most important fact that is of- 
ten overlooked, the intercession of the Holy 
Ghost. We think almost exclusively of the in- 
tercession of Christ, forgetting that there is ano- 
ther intercession that is also most priceless to us, 
and should ever be cherished. There is an im- 
portant distinction between these two interces- 
sions, though a distinction but little regarded. 
Christ intercedes as Mediator with God ; the Holy 
Spirit, as Paraclete, Pleader, with man. Christ in- 
tercedes as a Priest, completing the sacrificial and 
sacerdotal work which he assumed as our repre- 
sentative ; the Holy Spirit, as an applyer of this 
priestly work to the human heart. Christ inter- 
cedes with the Father on the ground of his merit, 
having purchased a right to the travail of his 
soul; the Holy Spirit, on the ground of compas- 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN ACTS. 251 

sion, pleading only the guilt and ruin of man. 
Christ intercedes in heaven ; the Holy Spirit, on 
earth. 

Hence we are brought to a most touching fact 
in our spiritual relations, that a double interces- 
sion is ever going on in regard to us, if we are 
God’s children ; Christ making intercession by his 
blood in heaven, the Holy Spirit making interces- 
sion for us, with groanings that cannot be uttered, 
on earth ; the one at the throne of glory above, 
the other at the throne of grace below ; the one 
preparing a place for us in the inheritance of the 
saints in light, the other preparing us for that 
place, by working in us a meetness for this hea- 
venly inheritance. The promise of the Father, 
therefore, for which the disciples were to wait, 
was the great blessing of the New Testament, the 
great hope of a sinful world, the great reliance of a 
strugglingchurch, theinfluences of the Holy Spirit, 
by which, “ convincing us of our sin and misery, 
enlighteningour minds in the knowledge of Christ, 
and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and 
enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to 
us in the gospel,” and by which “ we are renewed 
in the whole man after the image of God, and 
enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live 
unto righteousness.” 

III. Effects of the fulfilment of the promise. 

u Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jeru- 


252 THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 

salem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the 
uttermost part of the earth.” 

There is a peculiar ense in which the apostles 
were to be witnesses for Christ, as they were to at- 
test his resurrection from the dead from their own 
personal knowledge. Hence they must have seen 
the risen Saviour. And in their writings, they 
are witnesses to the ends of the earth. 

But there is a sense in which all Christians are 
included in this testifying character, for all are 
witnesses for Christ, and thus only can .this wit- 
ness be carried to the uttermost part of the earth. 

Each Christian, by his life, must be a witness 
for Christ, and show that he has been with Jesus, 
and learned of him. Some are to witness for him 
in the pulpit, somedn the pews, some in the city, 
some in the wilderness, some at home, some far 
hence away among the heathen, some in the par- 
lour, some in the kitchen, some in the nursery, 
some in the senate ; but all required to bear the 
same testimony, that “ Christ is the power of God, 
and the wisdom of God unto salvation, to all 
them that believe.” To bear false witness against 
our neighbour is a great sin, but to bear false wit- 
ness for Christ, is much more fearful, for the 
man who does this lies, not against man, but 
against God. 

But there is a passive witnessing for Christ as 
well as an active, and often a much harder testi- 


APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN ACTS. 253 

mony to bear. So important is this kind of wit- 
nessing, that the word martyr, which means 
witness, has been appropriated in common lan- 
guage to this kind of witnessing for Christ. Mr. 
Cecil relates that it was the example of his mother 
in enduring affliction with so much patience, that 
convinced lym of the reality of religion, when he 
was a sceptical and godless youth. Lying one night 
in bed he reflected thus, as he records in his life • 
“ 1 see two unquestionable facts. First, my moth- 
er is greatly afflicted in circumstances, body and 
mind, and yet I see that she cheerfully bears up 
under all, by the support she derives from con- 
stantly retiring to her closet and Bible. Secondly, 
that she has a secret spring of comfort of which I 
know nothing, while I, who give an unbounded 
loose to my appetites, and seek pleasure by every 
means, seldom or never find it. If however there 
is any such secret in religion, why may not I at- 
tain it as well as my mother ? I will immediately 
seek it of God.” He did seek it, and found it in 
Jesus. 

Thus it often is in cases that will never be 
known fully until “the books” are opened. The 
humble, poor, and suffering Christian, who bears 
in loneliness and poverty the sufferings of life, is 
testifying to all arpund the power of Christ, as 
really, and often as successfully, as Paul in the 
midst of Mars’ Hill. If it was an impressive 
22 


254 


THE TENTH APPEARANCE. 


witness for the power of religion that was given 
by the great English essayist, when he sent for 
his nephew to see in what peace a Christian can 
die ; it is a more impressive testimony that is given 
by some poor, lonely, neglected sufferer, who, 
without feeling that she is acting a part for the in- 
spection of the world, yet in obscurity and deser- 
tion, shows to those who are permitted to watch 
her daily life, with what patience a Christian can 
suffer. She may testify for Christ in her poverty 
and sickness, with more powerful effect than the 
most eloquent orator in the pulpit, for she is 
what he only describes. Hence in every depart- 
ment of life, in joy and sorrow, we are able to be 
witnesses for Christ, and testify by our conduct 
what the Lord has done for our souls ; and as the 
circle of Christian influence widens, this witness 
shall at last be carried to the uttermost part of the 
earth. 


THE ASCENSION. 


255 


C HAPTER XIX. 

THE ASCENSION. 

"Why the Ascension is so little alluded to in scripture. I. The fact 
of the Ascension. (1) The time. (2) The place. (3) The attend- 
ant circumstances. II. The reasons for the Ascension. (1) The 
Priesthood of Christ. (2) The entrance into glory after suffering. 
(3) To display his Divine nature. (4) Connection with the de- 
scent of the Holy Ghost. (5) His intercession. (6) Preparing a 
place for us. (7) Our forerunner and example — His Ascension the 
picture and pledge of ours. (8) Sitting at the right hand of God — 
The Pilgrim. 

“ Soft cloud, that while the breeze of May 
Chants her glad matins in the leafy arch, 

Draw’st thy bright veil across the heavenly way, 

Meet pavement for an angel’s glorious march ; 

My soul is envious of mine eye, 

That it should soar and glide with thee so fast, 

The while my grovelling thoughts half-buried lie, 

Or lawless roam around this earthly waste. 

Chains of my heart, avaunt I say — 

I will arise, and in the strength of love, 

Pursue the bright track ere it fade away, 

My Saviour’s pathway to his home above.” 

« So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received 
up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.” — Mark xvi. 19. 

“ And he led them out as far as to Bethany ; and he lifted up his 
hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed 
them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And 
they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.” 
Luke xxiv. 50—52. 


256 


THE ASCENSION. 


"And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was 
taken up ; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while 
they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two 
men stood by them in white apparel ; which also said, Ye men of 
Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus 
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like man- 
ner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto 
Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a 
sabbath-day’s journey.” — Acts i. 9—12. 

It is a little remarkable, that an event which 
strikes us so forcibly as the Ascension, should not 
have occupied a larger space in the sacred records. 
To us the Ascension is even a more wonderful event 
than the Resurrection, and we naturally crave a 
full account of it, to satisfy our curiosity. But 
the sacred writers never attempt to satisfy mere 
curiosity, or the demands of imagination. Their 
silence and reserve are often more wonderful, and 
more indicative of divine guidance, than their 
revelations. The Ascension is regarded by them 
as so closely linked with the Resurrection, so 
necessarily following it, and so blended with it in 
significance, that they dwell much more on the 
latter than on the former. Hence, whilst all the 
gospels record the Resurrection, but two of them 
record the Ascension. Mark (xvi. 19) gives a 
very brief record of it : “So then, after the Lord 
had spoken unto them, he was received up into 
heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.” Luke, 
writing at probably a later date, when the impor- 
tance of the event was more fully apprehended, 


THE ASCENSION. 


257 


gives us a fuller account of it. In his gospel 
(xxiv. 50-52) he states : “ And he led them out as 
far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and 
blessed them. And it came to pass, while he 
blessed them, he was parted from them, and car- 
ried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, 
and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.” In the 
Acts, he gives another account of it — (i. 9-12): 
“And when he had spoken these things, while they 
beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him 
out of their sight. And while they looked stead- 
fastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold two 
men stood by them in white apparel, which also 
said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up 
into heaven ? This same Jesus which is taken up 
from you into heaven, shall so come in like man- 
ner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then 
returned they unto Jerusalem, from the mount 
called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath- 
day’s journey.” It is alluded to by Paul in sev- 
eral of his larger Epistles ; ( Eph. iv. 8-10 ; 
Heb. x. 12 ;) by Peter twice in his first Epistle ; 
(1 Pet. i. 21 ; iii. 22 ;) and is implied in the visions 
of the Apocalypse. Rev. ii. 8, &c. 

Hence, it is not from any want of evidence as 
to the fact that it is not more frequently alluded 
to ; but because it is so closely connected with the 
Resurrection as to stand or fall with it; and be- 
cause the great contest was necessarily in regard 
22 * 


258 


THE ASCENSION. 


to the first, and not the seoond event. Admit the 
Resurrection, and the Ascension will follow with- 
out any difficulty* 

But, notwithstanding this infrequency of allu- 
sion, the Ascension is a most important fact in the 
life of our Lord, and one that deserves our most 
careful study. It will be well worth our while to 
obtain a clear notion of the fact itself, with the 
reasons for its occurrence, and the results that flow 
from it. 

I. The fact of the Ascension. 

In looking at the fact, there are three points that 
claim our attention, and require a brief discussion. 
They are the time of its occurrence in the life of 
our Lord, the place of its occurrence, and the at- 
tendant circumstances. 

1. The time of its occurrence was forty days 
after the Resurrection. Why this precise number 
of days was selected is matter of mere conjecture. 
It was forty days after his birth that he was 
brought to the temple to be dedicated to the Lord 
by his parents ; and during forty days he was 
tempted in the wilderness, before entering on his 
public ministry; and during forty days he was to 
remain on earth after the Resurrection, before en- 
tering into glory. It may be that these successive 
periods of forty days were designed to point back- 
ward to the forty years’ sojourn in the wilderness 
before entering Canaan ; and not only to link 


THE ASCENSION. 


259 


these histories together, but also present the same 
great lesson of a season of painful preparation 
before entering upon the fulfilment of the promise. 
There is a minute interlacing of analogies between 
the history of the Jewish people, the history of 
Jesus, and the history of the followers of Jesus, 
that cannot be wholly undesigned. They seem 
designed to show the oneness of God’s plan of re- 
demption, however various be its outward form of 
dispensation or administration. 

2. The place of this transaction is stated to have 
been the Mount of Olives, near Bethany. The 
Mount of Olives lies between Jerusalem and Beth- 
any. On the one side is the Holy City, separated 
from it by the valley of Jehoshaphat; on the other 
is the village of Mary and Martha, separated from 
the mountain by a little ridge of hills. It was 
here probably, in the recess furnished by these 
hills that project from the Mount of Olives and 
overhang Bethany, that this glorious event oc- 
curred. There is a spot on the summit of the 
mountain, directly in view of the city, which is 
traditionally designated as the place, and marked 
by the Chapel of the Ascension. But it is too far 
from Bethany to meet the terms of the narrative, 
and too directly in view of the city to comport 
with the retired character of the event. Hence, 
the spot that answers best to the narrative is one 
that is immediately above Bethany, and yet on a 


260 


THE ASCENSION. 


projected spur of Olivet. Mr. Stanley says of 
this spot : 

“ On the wild uplands which immediately over- 
hang the village, he withdrew from the eyes of 
his disciples, in a seclusion which, perhaps, could 
nowhere else be found so near the stir of a mighty 
city — the long ridge of Olivet screening those hills, 
and those hills the village beneath them, from all 
sound or sight of the city behind, the view open- 
ing only on the wide waste of desert rocks and 
ever-descending valleys, into the depths of the 
distant Jordan and its mysterious lake. At this 
point the last interview took place. ‘ He led them 
out as far as Bethany,’ and ‘ they returned,’ prob- 
ably by the direct road, over the summit of Mount 
Olivet. The appropriateness of the real scene 
presents a singular contrast to the inappropriate- 
ness of that fixed by a later fancy, ‘ seeking for a 
sign’ on the broad top of the mountain, out of 
sight of Bethany and in full sight of Jerusalem, 
and thus in equal pontradiction to the letter and 
the spirit of the gospel narrative.”* 

3. The facts of the scene are few and simple. 
He may have been with the disciples in one of 
those nightly meetings, in an upper chamber, 
which had before been seasons of so much joy to 
their hearts ; and having given them his lessons of 


* Sinai and Palestine, pp. 189, 190. 


THE ASCENSION. 


201 


wisdom and love, perhaps until the morning be- 
gan to break on the hills, he led them forth for the 
last time over Olivet, until they came to that quiet 
and secluded spot above the village of Bethany, 
where he had probably spent many an hour in 
prayer. There, as the rich glow of the coming day 
was gilding the mountains, and the earth was 
waking in the gladness of the morning, he held his 
parting interview with them, and uttered his last 
words of benediction. Whilst these words were 
yet on his lips, and the blessing unfinished, he 
began slowly and majestically to ascend from the 
ground, still uttering the accents of benediction ; 
and as he went up, a bright cloud — the Shekinah, 
the symbol of present Deity, that for so many 
years hung between the cherubim and above the 
ark — descended from heaven to meet him, and, en- 
folding him in its encircling brightness, carried 
him up until he was lost in the far-off blue of the 
empyrean and disappeared from their sight. 1 As 
they gazed wistfully upwards, two bright forms 
appeared sudddenly to them, and gently chiding 
them for this longing, tearful, and perhaps doubt- 
ful gaze, assured them that this same Jesus should 
return from heaven in the same way in wh ich he had 
gone up thither. Cheered by this assurance, they 
returned to Jerusalem rejoicing. 

II. The reasons for the Ascension. 

Such being the recorded facts of the Ascension, 


262 


THE ASCENSION. 


the question now meets us, Why was this scene in 
our Lord’s history necessary ? That it was neces- 
sary is proved, not only by the fact that it actually 
took place, but also by the predictions of it made 
by our Lord himself, and also by the Old Testa- 
ment prophets. In the memorable discourse on 
the way to Emmaus, he said : “ 0 fools, and slow of 
heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken ! 
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things 
and to enter into his glory?” The sublime as- 
cription of the 68th Psalm, “ Thou hast ascended 
on high ; thou hast led captivity captive ; thou 
hast received gifts for men ; yea, for the rebel- 
lious also, that the Lord God might dwell among 
them,” is expressly referred to the Ascension by 
Paul, in Eph. iv. 9, 10. After quoting this verse 
from the Psalm, he says : “ Now that he ascended, 
what is it but that he also descended first into the 
lower parts of the earth ? He that descended is 
the same also that ascended up far above all heav- 
ens, that he might fill all things.” Here Paul not 
only makes the Ascension matter of ancient 
prophecy, but states that it was necessary in order 
that Christ “ might fill all things.” The Epistle 
to the Hebrews presents similar views, in yet more 
elaborate detail. Heb. iv. 14 ; vi. 20 ; ix. 12, 24 ; 
x. 12. When our Lord met Mary Magdalene he 
refused to allow her to touch him, with the view 
she then had of his return to life, because he was 


THE ASCENSION. 


263 


not yet ascended to his Father. He told her to go 
to the disciples and tell them, “ I ascend unto my 
Father and your Father, and to my God and your 
God.” And before his death, in the touching fare- 
well discourses recorded in the closing chapters 
of John, he says: “If ye loved me, ye would re- 
joice because I said, I go unto the Father ; for my 
Father is greater than I.” John xiv. 28. These 
passages of scripture are sufficient to prove that 
there was an absolute necessity for the Ascension, 
as a part of that wondrous scheme of redemption 
which Christ came to fulfil on earth. Wherein 
then consisted this necessity ? 

1. The main grounds of this necessity are found 
in the priesthood of Christ , in the fact that he ap- 
peared on earth to make atonement for sin, and 
that this great work would have been incomplete 
without the Ascension. 

In the Mosaic ritual, which Paul assures us was 
a “ pattern of heavenly things,” we have this fact 
set forth very significantly. The high-priest was 
required, on the great day of atonement, to enter 
the holy of holies, and present an offering for sin 
in the very presence of the Shekinah, sprinkling 
the mercy-seat with the sacrificial blood, for him- 
self, and then for the people ; and as he came forth 
from that awful presence alive, he gave assurance 
that the atonement was complete, the offering ac- 
cepted, and man allowed to have entrance to the 


264 


THE ASCENSION. 


presence of God in favour. This was further pre- 
sented by the Cherubim, which symbolized re- 
deemed man, and dwelt perpetually in the pres- 
ence of the fiery symbol of Jehovah. This yearly 
entrance of the high-priest to the most holy place 
prefigured the entrance of Christ into heaven at 
his Ascension. For this we have the express as- 
surance of the Epistle to the Hebrews. In the 
eighth and ninth chapters this point is argued in 
elaborate detail. After showing (chap. ix. 1-6) 
the peculiar facts of the tabernacle and the entrance 
of the priests daily into the holy place, he adds, 
in regard to the most holy place, that into it 
“ went the high-priest once every year, not with- 
out blood, which he offered for himself and for the 
errors of the people : the Holy Ghost this signify- 
ing that the way into the holiest of all was not yet 
made manifest. . . . But Christ being come an 
high-priest of good things to come, by a greater 
and more perfect tabernacle, — he entered in once 
into the holy place, having obtained eternal re- 
demption for us. For Christ is not entered into 
the holy places made with hands, which are the 
figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to 
appear in the presence of God for us ” Heb. ix. 
7, 8, 11, 12, 24. 

The reason for the fact here asserted is by no 
means an abstruse one. Man had sinned, and 
therefore been banished from the presence and fa- 


THE ASCENSION. 


265 


your of God. Heaven was closed to him, and he 
lost all right to its enjoyments. The law, with its 
inflexible demands, excluded him, and no work 
of his own could meet those demands. If he suf- 
fered the penalty of that law, there was no space 
left for hope, since that penalty was the extinction 
of hope itself — death , eternal death. To save man 
from this penalty ; to satisfy the claims of that law, 
and thus remove the obstacle to an admission to 
the favour and presence of God in heaven, Jesus 
assumed this nature that had sinned, and united 
it in mysterious oneness with his divine nature, 
that a mediatorial person might be formed capa* 
ble of this great work, and then obeyed both 
the precept and the penalty of the law ; so that our 
nature suffered, obeyed, died, rose again, and en- 
tered into heaven as a permanent dwelling-place, 
in the person of this second Adam. How, every 
step of this process was demanded before the work 
was complete in itself, or could be so manifested to 
us. Had Christ not assumed a human nature, he 
could not have atoned for the sins of a race with 
such a nature. Had he not obeyed the precept of 
the law, it could not have been written that “ by 
the obedience of one man many are made righteous.” 
Had he not died, he could not have redeemed us 
from the curse of that law, whose penalty was 
death. Had he not risen from the dead, there 
would have been no assurance to the world that he 
23 


266 


THE ASCENSION. 


did not die for his own sins, and no authoritative 
declaration from God that his atoning work was 
accepted, and the penalty of death remitted to those 
who believe. Hence, his resurrection was needful 
as God’s endorsement of his work, and an assurance 
from the eternal throne that the law was satisfied. 
But suppose this had been all, and Christ had re- 
mained on earth, or at least not visibly ascended 
into heaven, would not the work and the procla- 
mation of it be incomplete ? The resurrection only 
assures us that the penalty of death and banish- 
ment from heaven is remitted ; but this is not 
enough. We want to know that our nature is to 
be admitted to an eternal dwelling-place in heaven, 
and that it is to be allowed to live for ever in the 
presence of God above. It was this that we lost 
by the first Adam, and it is this that we would 
gain by the second. A mere deliverance from 
death and hell gives no assurance that we are 
certainly by this atoning Saviour to be admitted 
hereafter to heaven. Hence we need another stage 
in this magnificent work. We need that this 
great representative nature — God manifest in the 
flesh, man manifested and represented in the Me- 
diator — that this nature shall visibly and openly 
ascend into heaven, and remain there, the first 
fruits of our perpetual and rightful dwelling in 
heaven, as in its resurrection it was the first-fruits 
of them that slept. Thus only is that exiled, 


THE ASCENSION. 


267 


doomed, and wandering nature restored to what it 
lost. It was banished from heaven, and its work 
of restoration cannot be proclaimed as complete 
until it has publicly been restored to that dwell- 
ing-place in the person of its great representative. 
As the first Adam was banished from the paradise 
below, the second must openly be admitted to the 
paradise above and dwell there , before the dread 
work of sin is undone, and the world assured that 
the Son of man has destroyed the works of the 
devil. Hence it is most obvious that the Ascen- 
sion was absolutely necessary. The Resurrection 
proved, indeed, that the curse of the law was 
gone, and our nature escaped from hell. But it 
might still be true that no provision was made to 
secure our entrance to heaven, and our right to do 
so might still hang in uncertainty. It was, then, 
further needful that this representative nature 
should ascend to heaven, be welcomed to its glit- 
tering mansions, and occupy them as a permanent 
habitation. This was done by the Ascension, and 
hence, as a completion of the work of redemption, 
and also as a declaration to the world that it was 
complete, it was needful that he should thus be 
received into glory. 

The necessity is obvious, then, when we take 
only this earthward view of it. But there are 
other views opened up by the scriptures that we 
cannot pass by, if we would thoroughly compre- 
hend this transaction. 


268 


THE ASCENSION. 


2. His mediatorial office required it. 

There was a glory to be assumed by our Lord after 
his work of suffering, that demanded this public 
entrance upon it. In his intercessory prayer, he 
alludes distinctly and very touchingly to this : “ I 
have glorified thee on the earth : I have finished the 
work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O 
Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with 
the glory which I had with thee before the world 
was.” John xvii. 4, 5. Here he distinctly inti- 
mates that there is a glory on which he is now to 
enter that is a result of his work of redemption. This 
thought is often alluded to in the New Testament, 
and especially in the Epistles of Paul. The me* 
morable passage in Philippians (ii. 5-11) is an 
elaborate statement of this fact. Heb. i. 1-4 states 
the same truth, and Eph. iv. 7-10 is but another 
presentation of the same thing. There are facts 
in heaven thus intimated that we can but imper- 
fectly comprehend. There are faint and far-off 
glimpses of a mighty coronation-day in the hea- 
venly kingdom, of a glittering triumphal entrance 
into the city that hath foundations ; when 
from the long and far-flashing ranks of the hea- 
venly hosts there went up the shout, “Lift up 
your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye 
everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come 
in and when to the lofty challenge of the one 
choir of rejoicing ones, “ Who is this King of 


THE ASCENSION. 


269 


glory ?” there came the responsive strain, like the 
voice of many waters, “ The Lord, strong and 
mighty, the Lord mighty in battle and when the 
ascending Eedeemer entered into his glory, sat 
down on the right hand of God, and assumed the 
sceptre of his mediatorial kingdom, and entered on 
that royal authority which he shall hold to the 
end : “ For he must reign till he hath put all 
enemies under his feet.” Hence the Ascension 
was necessary, that there should be a display in 
heaven of his mediatorial glory in the assumption 
of that kingly rule that he is now exercising, and 
will continue to exercise until the work of redemp- 
tion is done. 

3. But it is equally required to display his Di- 
vine majesty as the God-man , the Eternal Son. 
Had he remained on earth, it is possible that the 
world might have grasped the great doctrines of 
his Divinity, and of the Trinity of persons in the 
Godhead, that are now so clear. But it is most prob- 
able that it would have been with difficulty. Were 
he to appear in all his Divine glory, as he does in 
heaven, the whole character of the dispensation as 
one of faith would have been changed, and heaven 
robbed of one of its strongest attractions. Were 
he to appear in the ordinary form of humanity, it 
would be a perpetual humiliation, implying that 
his work of atonement was yet incomplete^ and it 
would have been most difficult for men to believe 
23 * 


270 


THE ASCENSION. 


that this lowly man, doomed to an undying hu- 
miliation on earth, was in very deed the Son of 
God. But when he has been visibly taken to hea- 
ven, and welcomed by rejoicing angels ; when the 
pillar of fire, after many centuries’ absence from 
Jerusalem, descends to carry him in its chariot of 
glory to the upper skies ; and when he is unveiled 
to us at the martyrdom of Stephen, and in the 
visions of the Apocalypse, as at the right hand of 
God and in the midst of the throne, we have no 
difficulty in believing that he is indeed “ God over 
all, blessed for ever.” Hence, just so far as a reve- 
lation of the Divinity of the Son is needful to man, 
was the Ascension, by which that evidence was 
made complete, a necessary event. 

4. Another necessity for it is found in its con- 
nection with the work of the Holy Spirit. What the 
reason of this connection is, we are probably un- 
able to comprehend, but the fact is very clear that 
the Ascension of Christ was a necessary prelimi- 
nary to the descent of the Holy Ghost. This he 
asserts himself in the most explicit terms : “ It is 

expedient for you that I go away ; for if I go not 
away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but 
if I depart, I will send him unto you.” John xvi. 7* 
So also in J ohn vii. 39, it is stated, “ The Holy Ghost 
was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet 
glorified.” Why this is true we cannot tell with 
any degree of certainty, for we see but dimly the 


THE ASCENSION. 


271 


wondrous arrangements of the Divine economy. 
It may be that this Spirit could not work, in its 
plenitude, until the redemption was completed, and 
the Son acknowledged in heaven as the Lamb slain 
from the foundation of the world. But the fact is 
clear, that the Ascension must take place before 
the Spirit could descend in his New Testament 
power. Then just as priceless to the world as is 
the work of the Blessed Paraclete, inspiring the 
tongues and pens of holy apostles and evangelists ; 
regenerating and converting the thousands that 
were dead in trespasses and in sins ; comforting 
and sanctifying the suffering people of God ; and 
dwelling in the hearts of the saints, and making 
their very bodies to be temples more hallowed 
than that of Moriah — just as absolutely necessary 
to the Church and to the world as are the gifts and 
graces of the Holy Comforter, so necessary was 
that Ascension of Jesus, without which he could 
not descend in pentecostal or in New Testament 
power. Hence, the very offices of the Church to 
which men are called by the Holy Spirit, are 
placed by the apostle, in Eph. iv. 8-12, as among 
the Ascension gifts of our Lord, when he led cap- 
tivity captive and obtained gifts for men. 

5. Another reason that the Scriptures give for 
the Ascension is, that Christ might make interces- 
sion for us. Paul assures us in Heb. ix. 21, “ that 
Christ is entered into heaven itself, now to appear 


272 


THE ASCENSION. 


in the presence of God for us and (vii. 25) that 
he “ ever liveth to make intercession for us and 
Rom. viii. 34, that he is at the right hand of God, 
making intercession for us. He is also said to be 
“ an Advocate with the Father.” What is the precise 
nature of that mysterious transaction which is here 
alluded to, we in our blindness cannot tell. But 
it is a sweet thought to the trembling sinner, who 
fears, like the publican, to come even near to the 
altar, that there is One beside the throne who is 
interceding for him with that “ blood of sprink- 
ling that speaketh better things than the blood of 
Abel and that “ if any man sin, we have an Ad- 
vocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the 
righteous.” We come then, in our feebleness and 
frailty, to a throne of grace, with a more cheering en- 
couragement, when we know that we come not 
alone, but that a heavenly Pleader is interceding 
for us, presenting our prayers and struggles before 
the throne covered with his own infinite 'merits, 
and that him the Father always heareth. To en- 
able him to thus intercede, it was needful that he 
should ascend. 

6. Another reason that he gives himself is, that 
there was a work of preparation for his people to 
be done in heaven. “In my Father’s house are 
many mansions : if it were not so, I would have 
told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” John 
xiv. 2. Here again we are at fault as we attempt 


THE ASCENSION. 


273 


to grasp these high themes. What is meant by 
preparing a place for us ? Is not heaven already 
garnished with a glory that was from the foundation 
of the world ? Is it not the perfection of beauty ? 
How, then, could it be prepared for us more glo- 
riously than it always has been? The answer to 
these queries is probably found in the fact that our 
place in heaven will be determined by our lives 
on earth. He whose pound has gained ten pounds 
shall have rule over ten cities ; he that has gained 
five, but five ; he that has gained two, but over 
two cities. As is the cross, so shall be the crown. 
As is the burden and heat of the day on earth, so 
is the exceeding great and eternal weight of glory 
in heaven. Oh ! it is a blessed thought to the toil- 
ing and faithful servant of Jesus, that though 
homeless and penniless below, without a place to 
lay his head, as belabours for his Master, that pre- 
cisely as his place on earth is lonely and weary by 
reason of his faithful working for Christ, by the 
same, yea, an infinitely greater ratio is that blessed 
Saviour preparing a place of peopled loveliness 
and eternal glory for him above. " Then we can 
see why he told his sorrowing disciples, who 
shrank from the toil and trial before them, that it 
became them rather to rejoice that he was about to 
leave them and ascend to his Father’s house, 
with its many mansions ; for there, as they were 
toiling in weariness and tears, he was preparing 


274 


THE ASCENSION. 


for them a warmer, brighter welcome, that they 
might be glad according to the years in which they 
had been made to see sorrow. For this work of 
preparation, it was needful that he should ascend. 

7. Another reason given by Paul is, that as our 
forerunner and great example, it was needful that 
he should enter the rest of heaven after he had fin- 
ished the labours of earth. We are prone, in 
dwelling on the character of our Lord, to overlook 
the fact that he was truly man, in contemplating 
the fact that he was truly God. As man, he had 
all the feelings of a sinless humanity. He could 
be touched with a feeling of all our infirmities that 
were without sin. He was weary, hungry, thirsty, 
faint, lonely, sorrowful, indignant, as he encoun- 
tered the various trials of his earthly life. Hence, 
even without any. specific assurances, we would 
have inferred that he felt the same longing for 
heaven that the lonely and weary often have on 
earth. But we have such assurances most explic- 
itly given. Paul declares to us that he, u for the 
joy that was set before him , endured the cross, de- 
spising the shame, and is set down at the right 
hand of the throne of God.” Heb. xii. 2. Hence, 
this Ascension or return to heaven was a thing 
that cheered and sustained him in his sorrows on 
earth. To him the hope of heaven was something 
far more vivid and bright than to any other soul 
that has ever longed for it. We know not how 


THE ASCENSION. 


275 


far the consciousness of the humanity shared the 
knowledge of the Divinity, but we know that there 
was some impartation of that knowledge. “ What 
and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where 
he was before ?” (John vi. 62) was a question that 
indicated this fact. But it was yet more touch- 
ingly declared in the intercessory prayer in the 
seventeenth chapter of John’s Gospel. The whole 
prayer breathes the home-sick longing of a child 
for his Father’s house, and a soul ripe for heaven 
yearning for its rest. Take, for example, the un- 
utterable tenderness of the heart-gushing words, 
“ I have glorified thee on the earth : I have finished 
the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, 
O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, 
with the glory which I had with thee before the 
world was.” John xvii. 4, 5. There is a won- 
derful depth of beauty and tenderness in these 
words. They are the longing of a weary heart 
that is conscious of having faithfully done its 
work, and now wistfully looks for its release and 
repose. We cannot doubt that to the lonely man 
of sorrows there came visions of the better land, 
memories of the sweet rest above, echoings of the 
minstrelsy of the heavenly harps, whisperings of 
angels, and thoughts of the city that hath founda- 
tions, and the home and the throne that awaited 
him, such as none other ever had, and such as 
none other ever needed. As he trod the dusty 


276 


TIIE ASCENSION. 


streets of the cities of Palestine, laid his head be- 
neath the lowly roof of Bethlehem, spent the long 
cold night on the mountain-top and the sea-shore, 
we are assured by these words of Paul that his eye 
was often lifted to the everlasting hills, gazing on 
the throne that glittered there in reserve for him 
in the land that was afar off. These hopes cheered 
him in his toils and sorrows. 

Now, to a holy being, toiling on earth, it was 
needful that when this work was done he should 
return to that holy city and holy company that 
awaited him above. Heaven is the great gather- 
ing-place of all that is holy, and lovely, and grand 
in the universe ; and by its mighty magnetism is 
drawing to it all that is loveliest and purest in cre- 
ation, and clustering it in a bright eternal harmony 
around the throne. Hence, had Jesus been only a 
mere and ordinary creature, it would have been a 
fitting thing for him to ascend to this glorious rest 
when his work was done. But he was not such a 
creature. He was the second Adam, the repre- 
sentative of redeemed humanity, and as such, it 
was needful for him to enter paradise regained, as 
our forerunner. And to show that heaven was a 
place as well as a state, and that he was the Saviour 
of the body as well as orthe soul, it was needful 
that he should go up in his human body, and enter 
the heavenly city as our great Leader, take posses- 
sion of it in our name, and thus give us assurance 


THE ASCENSION. 


277 


that the body as well as the soul should be saved ; 
and therefore that there should be hereafter a re- 
surrection from the dead in glory of all who sleep 
in Jesus. 

The great fact of instruction and comfort to us, 
then, in the Ascension of our Lord, is, that it is at 
once the pledge and the picture of our future 
glory as Christians. The fact that it was the same 
body which died that also arose and ascended to 
heaven, is an assurance to us that the same body 
that we carry about us in our earthly pilgrimage 
shall be taken hereafter to heaven, and that this vile 
body shall be made like to Christ’s glorious body. 
As he ascended, so also shall we. As he lingered, 
after his new life, for forty days on earth, and then 
went up to heaven, so shall we, even after our new 
life, our spiritual resurrection, linger for a time 
on earth, and then ascend to heaven, first, in our 
disembodied spirits at death, and afterwards, in 
both body and spirit, hereafter, at the resurrection 
and second coming of Jesus. Hence, death is not 
a descent into the grave to the Christian, but an 
ascension to heaven. It is a going up to Jesus, an 
entrance into the heavenly city ; and as our risen 
bodies shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the 
air at the Resurrection, so at death we shall be 
conveyed by angels to our rest, and shall see the 
everlasting doors lifted up to welcome us home to 
the King of glory. 

24 


278 


THE ASCENSION. 


8. Another reason is found in the fact, that as 
Mediatorial King , he was to “ sit on the right hand 
of God This expression is of course not to be 
taken literally, as God has neither right nor left 
hand, as a literal fact. To sit on the right hand is 
to occupy a place of the highest confidence and 
authority, and when spoken of a king, in oriental 
idiom, means to share his royal authority. In re- 
gard to the person of Christ, it means that he was 
to have the highest majesty and glory placed upon 
it, and that it was to be invested with universal 
dominion. This glory and dominion could not 
be enjoyed if he remained on earth, and hence 
to enter upon them it was needful that he should 
ascend to heaven. The kingdom here alluded to 
is that mediatorial kingdom, spoken of by Paul in 
1 Cor. xv. 24-28, which the Son shall deliver to 
the Father when the end shall come. It was to 
this he also alluded when he said to his disciples, 
“ If ye loved me ye would rejoice because I said, 
I go unto the Father, for my Father is greater 
than I.” John xiv. 28. The fact that he was to 
ascend to the right hand of the Father was a 
ground of rejoicing, not only on his account, but 
on ours also. He is not only unutterably glori- 
ous and happy in heaven, but he is dispensing the 
government of the universe, so that all things 
work together for the glory of his church. This 
kingly rule of Jesus, the Mediator, is a sheet- an- 


THE ASCENSION. 


279 


chor of hope in the darkest hour, for we know 
that with Christ in the vessel we need not fear the 
storm. 

Hence we see how full of instruction, comfort, 
and joy is the great fact of the Ascension. It is 
an opening of the golden gates, and the nearest 
approach to a visible unveiling of its glories 
that shall be given until the everlasting gates 
shall be lifted up, not to welcome the King of 
glory back, but to return him, in all the pomp of 
the second advent, to judge the world. As we 
gaze on the sky that was once opened by the re- 
ceding form of our blessed Lord, we may feel as 
the immortal dreamer in his vision, as he looked 
after the entering pilgrims. “ I beheld the golden 
streets, and the men with crowns on their heads, 
and palms in their hands, and golden harps to sing 
praises withal.” “ And after that, they shut up the 
gates ; which when I had seen, I wished myself 
among them.” Then let the Ascension of Jesus 
draw our thoughts, affections, and longings more 
to the rest that remaineth for his people. 


280 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


CHAPTER XX. 

THE PARTING PROMISE. 

The lingering benediction. I. The appearance of the Angels. An- 
gelic agency — Its reality and blessedness — Its nature. II. The 
Angelic Message. (1) The rebuke — Gazing too long into heaven — 
“ Oh ! to be wi’ thee, Richie !” — Pining sinfully for heaven. (2) 
The comfort — “ This same Jesus” — The unchanging Friend. (3) 
The warning — The second coming of Christ — The Old Testament 
Prophets — The New Testament Prophets — Why such obscurity 
around the time and manner of this coming — The great Epiphany — 
Conclusion — The fulness of instruction during the forty days — 
The coming Era — Signs of the times — The Pentecost of the future. 

“ We must not stand and gaze too long, 

Though on unfolding heaven our gaze we bend ; 

When lost behind the bright angelic throng, 

We see Christ's entering triumph slow ascend. 

No fear but we shall soon behold. 

Faster than now it fades, that gleam revive, 

When issuing from his cloud of fiery gold, 

Our wasted frames feel the true Sun and live. 

Then shall we see thee as thou art, 

For ever fixed in no unfruitful gaze, 

But such as lifts the new created heart 
Age after age in worthier love and praise.” 

“ And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went 
up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel ; which also 
said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? 
This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so 
come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” — Acts 
i. 10, 11. 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


281 


We have been looking at the appearances of our 
Lord, and learning the lessons they are designed 
to teach. We now reach his disappearance, and 
the lessons that we are to learn from that great 
fact. And it has been kindly ordered by our Mas- 
ter that these lessons should not be left to mere 
conjecture. We have them uttered to us by the 
lips of angels, and thus taught in the most impres- 
sive manner. 

It was a touching fact that, in the Ascension, 
the Saviour was taken up in the very act of bless- 
ing his disciples. The benediction was begun on 
earth, but not ended, for “ while he. blessed them, 
he was parted from them, and carried up into 
heaven.” That benediction still lingers in the 
air, and cheers the hearts of Christ’s people, and 
will continue to do so, until the words of the de- 
parting Saviour are swallowed up in the sounds 
that shall proclaim the coming Judge. 

It was most natural that the disciples should 
continue to gaze at the receding cloud of light 
that enfolded the form of their beloved Master. 
They were moved with mingled emotions of 
amazement, sorrow, longing, and fear. They felt 
that they were now really alone, and the first 
feeling of their hearts would be that of Elisha, 
when he witnessed the ascension of Elijah : “ My 

father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the 
horsemen thereof.” Like him they must have felt 
24 * 


282 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


that their great protection and guidance was gone 
in his removal, and had nothing more been said, 
they would probably have returned to the city 
with doubting and sorrowful hearts. But they 
were not so to be left, for as they gazed up into 
heaven, there appeared two forms above them, 
clad in the garb of heavenly messengers, who 
gently reproved their doubting sorrow, and gave 
them the assurance that this departing Saviour 
should come again, and close up the great mystery 
of God, in the sublime scenes of the last, great day. 
There are several things here that strike us : first, 
the appearance of the angels, and then the message 
they delivered. 

I. The Appearance of the angels. 

It is a striking fact that this wonderful interval 
in our Lord’s life, was introduced and closed by 
appearances of angels. The Kesurrection was an- 
nounced by angels at the threshold of the grave, 
the second advent was announced by angels at 
the gates of heaven. They came as heralds to pro- 
claim his coming from death, they remained as 
heralds to proclaim his coming to judgment. Thus 
the gloom of the grave, and the pains of parting, 
are both lightened to the hearts of the disciples* 
by the words of angels. And it is a thought not 
sufficiently pondered, that the last words that fell 
on the ears of the disciples at this memorable time 
were the words of angels. 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


288 


The instructive fact presented to us here is, 
that angelic interposition was made at the very 
time when it was most needed. When our Lord 
was visibly present with his disciples, they needed 
no special comfort. But when he had left them 
alone, their hearts were ready to sink, and they 
needed consolation. Hence he sent angels to them 
not to declare any new truth to them, but only to 
remind them of the old, and to recall to them those 
familiar things which, in their bewildered amaze- 
ment, they had been unable to remember. 

Thus it is that God always deals with his peo- 
ple. If he takes away one comfort, he puts another 
in its place, more suitable for our circumstances, all 
things considered, than that which was taken. 
And more than this, it is further true, that God 
often uses the very same agency now that he did 
then on Olivet. 

Angelic agency is a topic from which the pul- 
pit perhaps shrinks unduly. There is a tempta- 
tion to give loose to fancy that makes many avoid 
it, lest the simple and sober statement of the truth 
should be regarded as fanciful. And there is also 
a secret scepticism in regard to the real existence 
of such agency now, that perhaps has more to do 
with our silence on the subject than we would 
willingly confess. We may not doubt it ourselves, 
but the fact that it is doubted by many others, causes 
ministers often to shrink from declaring the whole 


284 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


truth on this subject. Yet no fact is more clearly 
revealed than this very agency. They are minis- 
tering spirits sent forth to minister to the heirs of 
salvation. They bear us up in their hands, lest we 
dash our foot against a stone. Their busy activ- 
ity, behind the materialism of the outward and 
visible agencies of nature, is distinctly and re- 
peatedly taught. Why should we forget or con- 
ceal it ? Why not take the comfort it is designed to 
give us ? Why not cherish the hallowing restraint 
and check it is calculated to throw around us ? 
We know how the presence of a fellow man com- 
forts, restrains, and assists us, if he is a man of 
holy and elevated character. And ought not the 
presence of angels to have the same effect ? When 
we sit in our lonely dwelling or walk in the path- 
way of sorrow, ought not angelic presences to cheer 
and brighten our souls ? When we are tempted 
to sin, ought not the thought that there perhaps 
then rests upon us the sorrowful eye of an angel, 
to aid in restraining us ? Yet all this is undoubt- 
ed fact. It is no dream of poetic fancy, but the 
simple verity of revelation that these unseen 
agencies are ever around us. Paul enjoined a de- 
cent conformity to established notions of propriety 
in public assemblies, because of the presence of 
angels in them. He himself was visited on the 
stormy Adriatic, and comforted by an angel. 
Peter was released by the hands of an angel. The 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


285 


angel of the Lord encamps around the pillow of 
his suffering people, and makes all their bed in 
their sickness. When a single sinner repents, 
there is joy among them. And when the weary 
task of life is done, though the saint be a beggar at 
the gate of unfeeling opulence, he is carried by 
the angels into Abraham’s bosom. 

But what is the nature of this agency ? Is it 
miraculous? Is it designed to, give any new re- 
velations ? By no means. It is simply to do as 
the angels did on Olivet, remind us of the words 
of Jesus. This is all we need to comfort us, for it 
carries us above angelic agency to him who is the 
Lord of angels. We know not how often the 
dropping of some sweet text into the soul, that 
falls softly like a voice from heaven on the fainting 
heart, is the whispering agency of one of these 
unseen remembrancers. They too worship Jesus, 
and though they cannot unite in that richer, deeper 
song, that is sung by the ransomed sinner, “ to 
Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins 
in his blood yet they may unite in that other 
song that ascribes honour, glory, praise, and pow- 
er, to Him that sits upon the throne and to the 
Lamb for ever. And it is this adoring love of 
Jesus that leads them to such ministries of affection 
as they are ever performing for his people. Hence 
the appearance of these angels at this time, when 
the disciples so much needed their comfort, was 


286 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


simply an instance of a general law still in oper- 
ation. 

II. The Angelic Message. 

“Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up 
into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up 
from you into heaven, shall so come in like man- 
ner as ye have seen him go into heaven ” This 
message contains words of rebuke, of comfort, and 
of warning. 

1. The rebuke. The interrogatory of the angels 
certainly conveys a gentle, but yet a decided re- 
proof. “ Why stand ye gazing up into heaven ?” 
The feeling here rebuked was one with which 
every mourner is sadly familiar. When the gates 
of heaven have opened to admit some dear one 
taken from our side, what is the feeling that first 
springs up in the heart ? Is it not a wistful 
longing to follow them ? Is it not a feeling that 
the earth is too dark and cold now, for us to re- 
main here ? Is it not a gazing up into heaven 
with a feeling almost of impatience at the obstacles 
that prevent us from going there ? 

It is touchingly told of Alexander Peden, that 
when hunted by the dragoons of Claverhouse, and 
compelled to hide in dens and caves of the earth, 
he was accustomed to steal at times to the grave 
of Eichard Cameron, at Airsmoss, and as he 
thought of the harassing sorrows of earth, and the 
sweet rest of heaven into which his martyred 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


287 


brother had entered, he would exclaim with a 
bursting heart and a streaming eye, “ Oh ! to be 
wi’ thee, Richie I” This is a feeling that strong 
hearts have often had in an hour of sorrow. When 
Jonah found that his expectations in regard to the 
glory of his own people, and the punishment of 
their enemies, were to be disappointed, he went out 
of Nineveh, and longed to die. And when Elijah 
fled from Jezebel into the wilderness, thinking 
that all was lost, and that God’s cause was crushed 
hopelessly, he also lay down beneath a juniper tree 
and longed for death. The same thing was true 
of Moses in the moment of discouragement. And 
thus it is often with stricken hearts in the first 
hours of bereavement and suffering. They gaze 
wistfully into heaven, longing to escape from the 
toils, and sorrows, and loneliness of earth, and like 
David, take the wings of a dove, ahd fly away and 
be at rest from the windy storm and tempest. 

When these seasons of depression come upon 
us, then should we listen to the lesson contained 
in these gently rebuking words of the angels : 
Why this gazing ? 

To the hearts of the disciples these words con- 
veyed a great deal. They said to them, “ Why. 
thus long to escape from toil and trial ? Return 
to Jerusalem and you shall in due time receive 
the promise of the Father, and then go and labour 
to the ends of the earth. Gird yourselves to obey 


288 THE PARTING PROMISE. 

the parting words of your Lord, and patiently 
wait until he fulfils his promise. He has said, ‘ I 
go and prepare a place for you, and if I go and 
prepare a place for you, I will come again and re- 
ceive you to myself and will he not come ? Then 
do not cherish these desponding feelings. Gaze 
not with this wistful longing at the pearly gates, 
and the heavenly city. The time has not come 
for you to enter them. It is yours to work and 
wait, and they will be richer and brighter to you 
when you reach them by reason of this very wait- 
ing.” The same lesson is conveyed to us now. 
We must patiently labour, and patiently wait ; and 
the rest will grow sweeter as we thus wait, and the 
reward will grow richer as we thus labour. 

That this rebuke had its proper effect in the 
case of the disciples, we see from the fact that they 
returned to Jef usalem with “ great joy.” They 
were still alone, their beloved Master in heaven, 
but they knew that he had gone to prepare a place 
for them, that their parting was but for a time, 
their meeting would be for eternity ; and that in a 
little while they would all meet in that general 
assembly and church of the first born, where their 
light affliction, that is but for a moment, shall work 
out a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory. 

The same lesson also should be learned by us 
in our hours of sorrow and discouragement. 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


289 


When longings for heaven unfit us for labours on 
earth, a voice from heaven should come, in gentle 
rebuke, “ Why stand ye gazing up into heaven ?” 
Instead of indolently longing for the rest of heaven, 
we should labour on earth to be fitted for that rest, 
and thus only shall we long aright. We may gaze 
upward toward the heavenly hills in faith and 
hope, and such longing as Paul had when he was 
willing rather to depart and be with Christ, which 
was far better. But we are not to gaze with im- 
patient discontent, and indolent desire to escape 
from the duties that God has assigned us here on 
earth. We must feel with Job, not when he ex- 
claims in bitterness, “ I loathe it, I would not live 
alway,” but rather when he says, “All the days 
of my appointed time will I wait till my change 
come.” 

2. The comfort. “ This same Jesus which is ta- 
ken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like 
manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” 

When we part with a friend who is going to 
scenes more attractive than those he leaves behind, 
we often fear lest the change of scene shall pro- 
duce a change of feeling, and we be forgotten. 
Such changes often happen on earth. Those whom 
we have known in youth, we find to have grown 
cold in maturer years ; those who have smiled upon 
us in prosperity and gladness, forsake us in adver- 
sity, poverty, and sorrow. To feel the chill of 
25 


290 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


this change falling on our hearts, is one of the sad- 
dest experiences of life. It may be that such was 
the feeling of the disciples, as they saw Jesus as- 
cend in glory. They feared lest he would not be 
the same loving and lowly one to them in heaven, 
that he had been on earth. 

But it was otherwise with Jesus. He was un- 
changeable, so completely so, that when he would 
return the second time in the pomp of judgment, 
it would be “this same Jesus” who would return 
unchanged in all the lovely and gentle traits of 
his nature. The heavens shall pass away like a 
scroll, and the earth be burned up, but he shall re- 
main the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever. 
This is a precious truth in a world of change and 
uncertainty. All around us is changing. Society 
changes from year to year by death and removal. 
We ourselves change continually from youth to 
age, in all that pertains to us. All around us is 
subject to this great law of change, and there is no 
sure basis of hope in life. But we have to do with 
a Saviour who is unchanging and unchangeable. 
That same Jesus who spake kindly to the widow 
of Nain, and the sisters of Bethany, in their hour 
of bereavement ; who gave peace to the afflicted 
hearts of his disciples in the midnight storm of 
Genessaret ; who wept over Jerusalem in gushing 
tenderness and regret ; who wrestled in agony in 
Gethsemane ; and prayed for his enemies on Cal- 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


291 


vary ; that same Jesus still sits on the throne of 
glory above and is yet touched with a feeling 
of our infirmities, and can sympathize with us in 
all our sorrows, and have a fellow-feeling in our 
infirmities. This is a thought full of sweetness to 
us amid the trials of life, and the fears of death and 
judgment. That same Jesus who has supported 
others, will support us, if we trust him, and keep 
what we commit to him “until that day.” 

8. The Warning. “This same Jesus — shall come.” 

The great event here predicted is the second 
coming of Christ. This event has been the great 
burden of prophecy, since the entrance of sin into 
the world. Enoch looked forward to it and de- 
clared that “ the Lord cometh with ten thousand 
of his saints, to execute judgment upon all.” 
Job looked forward to it as he expected his Ke- 
deemer to stand at the latter day upon the earth. 
David expected it as he declared, “ Our Lord shall 
come and shall not keep silence, a fire shall devour 
before him, it shall be very tempestuous round 
about him. He shall call to the heavens from 
above, and to the earth, that he may judge his peo- 
ple.” Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, all 
had glimpses of this mighty event, and kindled 
into rapture as they looked forward to it. Joel 
spake of the coming of “ the great and terrible 
day of the Lord,” “ the day of the Lord in the valley 
of decision.” ETabakkuk seems to have written his 


292 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


sublime ode of a coming God, in the light of this 
awful day. Haggai and Zechariah looked forward 
to it, as they linked this day with the work of 
rearing from the dust, the temple, that earthly 
symbol of great heavenly realities. And as the 
spirit of prophecy was about to withdraw for a 
time from the church, Malachi gazes on it with 
the most intense emotion, and exclaims, “ The day ! 
it comes! burning as an oven! The great and 
dreadful day of the Lord !” The last ray that fell 
on the eye of prophecy as the curtain fell, was 
the red glare of this coming of the Lord. 

When we open the New Testament these warn- 
ings become more distinct and emphatic. Our 
Lord himself repeatedly speaks of the coming of 
the Son of Man. He compares that coming, as to 
its suddenness and fearfulness, to the days of Noah 
and of Lot, when the flood and the fire from hea- 
ven swept away the ungodly. He compares it to the 
sudden flashing of the lightning, whose outburst 
can never be foreseen. He warns his disciples 
that they should live with their loins girded, 
waiting for the coming of the Son of Man. Some 
of his most solemn parables, those of the Yirgins 
and Talents especially, are based on this dread 
coming. And among the last and most awful 
pictures that he gave of the future, that sublime 
scene in which he would separate an assembled 
world as the shepherd divides his sheep from his 


THE PASTING PROMISE. 293 

goats, his coming is the dread theme on which he 
speaks. 

The apostles take up the same note of warning. 
As soon as Peter opened the gospel to the multi- 
tudes on the day of Pentecost, he pointed forward to 
this coming as the restitution of all things spoken 
of by the holy prophets, since the world began. 
Paul repeats the warning in nearly all his epistles. 
In the very first one he wrote, that to Thessalonica, 
he dwells so repeatedly on this theme that his 
words were misapprehended, and it was needful 
for him to write a second letter, and assure them 
that in dwelling so much on this great coming he did 
not mean to represent it as at hand, for there were 
many great events that must previously happen. 
But both these early epistles dwell with great 
earnestness and beauty on this coming of the Lord. 
Nor were these merely his early and immature opin- 
ions. As he writes to the Corinthians in the noon- 
day of his laborious career he still points them in 
both his letters to this great event, linking even 
the Lord’s supper with it, as a showing of the 
Lord’s death until he come. Nor did he think less 
of it toward the close of his life. As he writes to 
his beloved Philippians, he speaks exultingly of 
his looking for Jesus again from heaven to change 
this vile body to the likeness of his glorious body. 
In writing to the Colossians, he. also points to the 
appearance of Christ in glory, and in the epistles 
25 * 


294 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


to Timothy and Titus frequently refers to this 
blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great 
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. In that to the 
Hebrews he also speaks of his coming the second 
time, without sin to salvation. 

Nor is this peculiar to Paul. James also warns 
his brethren that “ the coming of our Lord draweth 
nigh.” Peter devotes the last chapter of his second 
epistle, written very near to his death, to this 
sublime theme. Jude repeats the same things, al- 
most in the same words. John, in his first epistle, 
refers repeatedly to the time when Christ should 
appear. The Apocalypse opens with the startling 
call, “ Behold he cometh with clouds, and every 
eye shall see him,” details in the most vivid man- 
ner the terrible pomp of his coming, and closes 
up the words of inspiration with the words of Je- 
sus, “Surely I come quickly: Amen,” and the 
longing prayer of the widowed and waiting church, 
“ Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” 

Hence, the second coming of Christ has a place 
in the Scriptures, which perhaps it has not in the 
faith and hopes of the church. The extrava- 
gances that have often been connected with this 
subject in the past, have led many sober-minded 
Christians to submerge it in their general current 
of thought, and remove it from the place that it 
really holds in the word of God. There are also 
serious differences of opinion in regard to the 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


295 


time, the mode, the nature, and the purpose of this 
coming, that even now separate the wisest and 
best men in every branch of the visible church. 
It would be aside from our present purpose even 
to express an opinion in regard to these disputed 
points, and hence we allude to them only for a 
specific reason. 

Why is so important an event declared in such 
a way, that for ages, if not from the beginning, there 
have been differences of opinion as to its time 
and manner ? Why are not these things as 
explicitly revealed as the event itself? For the 
very reason, that the event is to be the great lode 
star of the church’s future in every age. Were it 
revealed with such absolute clearness as to time, 
circumstances, and manner, that its chronology 
could be calculated, it could never be what it was 
designed to be, the great awakener of the militant 
church. It is to be to the collective body of 
Christians, what the close of life is to the individ- 
ual Christian, the great spur and stimulus to activ- 
ity. Hence, like it, the event is certain, the time 
and manner uncertain ; that the certainty might 
cause us to work because the night cometh, and 
that the uncertainty might cause us to work while it 
is called to-day. Hence, to each age this event 
stands at once a near and a remote event : near, if 
measured by the standard of heaven, remote, if by 
that of earth ; but in either case the great, decisive 


296 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


event of the future, that for which the church 
in the wilderness below, and the souls beneath 
the altar above, have been crying, “ How long, O 
Lord ?” and for which a groaning and travailing 
creation has been waiting for the glorious mani- 
festation of the sons of God. 

This only we need know, that “ this same Jesus” 
shall so come in like manner as he was seen to go 
into heaven. This same Jesus, who having loved 
his own, loved them to the end ; who having loved 
them on earth, will continue to love them in 
heaven. He shall so come as he was seen to go 
into heaven ; not figuratively, but literally ; not 
spiritually, but bodily ; not to the eye of faith 
alone, but visibly; not in the presence of a few an- 
gels and a handful of disciples, but with “ the ten 
thousand times ten thousand,” when every eye shall 
see him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail 
because of him. He shall come to make that “ re- 
stitution of all things spoken of by the mouth of 
all the holy prophets since the world began. ” He 
shall come “ to judge the world in righteousness,” 
and “ render to every man according to his deeds ; 
to them who by patient continuance in well-doing, 
seek for glory, and honour, and immortality, eter- 
nal life : but unto them that are contentious, and 
do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, 
indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish 
upon every soul of man that doeth evil.” He shall 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


297 


come to say to those on his right hand, “ Co'me ye 
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre- 
pared for you from the foundation of the world.” 

Hence this great event is the goal of the church’s 
race ; the triumphal end of her long warfare ; the 
welcome home of her weary pilgrimage ; the ter- 
mination of her life militant; the beginning of her 
life triumphant. We can thus readily see why it 
is called “a glorious hope,” and why it hung 
gleaming in the horizon of the church’s hope in 
the days of her early struggles, as the bright Epi- 
phany whose full appearance would compensate 
for all the sore strugglings of the sorrowful and 
darkened past and present. 

To the individual Christian it comes also with 
the same high power to comfort and arouse. It is 
true that to him death is nearer, in all human pro- 
bability, than this great day, but death itself has 
all its dread or glad significance from its connec- 
tion with this great appearing. To us all, practi- 
cally, the coming of death is the coming of judg- 
ment, for what is left undone at the one event, shall 
be found undone at the other. Hence for the 
same reason that the church is called to wait and 
to watch, in hope, in activity, and in submission, 
the individual Christian also is called to wait and 
to watch, that whenever the great messenger Death 
shall come, he may be found’ ready to go into the 
presence of the great Master with joy, and not with 
grief. 


298 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


Hence, as the disciples returned to Jerusalem 
from Olivet with great joy, and waited for the 
promise of the Lord, in prayer, in faith, and in the 
discharge of duty, so should it be with the indi- 
vidual Christian after every visit to Olivet ; after 
every opening of heaven to admit an ascending 
spirit ; after every season of instruction, of dis- 
cipline, or of trial. He should gird himself afresh 
for the duties and difficulties of the present, by the 
hope that he has of the glorious revelations of the 
future. Thus let each one strive to live more 
constantly in the light of the great Epiphany of 
the future — 

“ The bright appearance of the Lord, 

While faith stands leaning on his word.” 

We have now gone over the appearances of our 
Lord during the memorable Forty Days, and have 
found them rich in instruction to a very re- 
markable degree. There is hardly a leading doc- 
trine in the Christian system that was not in some 
form brought forward during these memorable 
interviews. There is hardly a phase of Christian 
experience that is not brought into review in the 
words spoken by our Lord during this remarkable 
period. It was, therefore, to the apostles, a season 
of training, that fitted them eminently for the 
great work to which they were called in preach- 
ing the gospel to all nations. Like the forty days 
that preceded the public ministry of our Lord, it 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


299 


was designed and adapted in an eminent degree to 
furnish preparation for the new manifestation of 
the kingdom then to be made. 

We are standing now apparently at the dawn 
of a new era in the great work of Redemption. 
All the lines of prophecy, chronological and his- 
torical, seem to centre in the quarter of a century 
on which we are now entering. The whole world, 
especially Europe and Asia, seems heaving with 
internal elements of convulsion, as if preparing for 
some fearful outburst that shall shatter the ancient 
crust that has been petrifying for ages ; the shatter- 
ing of which must bring about some new form of 
social and political, if not religious development. 
There is a restless uneasiness with the present, 
and an anxious looking to the future, which recalls 
the words of Jesus that a time would come when 
“ men’s hearts would be failing them for fear, and 
for looking after those things which are coming 
on the earth.” There is a vast increase of all 
kinds of material facilities, and improvements, 
such as preceded and prepared the way for the 
great Reformation of the sixteenth century. There 
is an increasing sense of responsibility on the 
part of the Church, a multiplication of modes of ac- 
tive labour in Christ’s cause, that looks like a pre- 
paration of agencies for action, that shall be ready 
when the call comes for their use. Every thing beto- 
kens some new manifestation of the kingdom of 


300 


THE PARTING PROMISE. 


Christ. What this shall be, we know not. Whether a 
single advance of the same kind with those that 
have preceded it, or a mightier and more stupen- 
dous revealing of Himself, we cannot tell. But 
in any case, it becomes us to fill our vessels, and 
trim our lamps, and gird our loins, and look out 
on the still night around us, remembering that 
“the night is far spent and the day is at hand,” 
and “ now is our salvation nearer than when we 
believed.” And there is no portion of scripture 
which we can more fitly study than that which 
records the teachings of that memorable Forty 
Days which preceded the great outpouring of the 
Spirit, and the inauguration of the New Testament 
form of the kingdom of heaven. Let us then pon- 
der, and watch, and pray, and labour, and then 
patiently wait, and perhaps we may soon see the 
descending tokens of fire from heaven that shall 
announce the advent of the mighty Pentecost of 
the future. “ Behold I come quickly. Amen. 
Even so come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our 
Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen.” 


THE END. 


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